A  HISTORY  OF 
ENGLISH  CRITICL  TERMS 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


A  HISTORY 


OF 


ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 


BY 


J.  W.  BRAY,  A.M. 

PROFESSOR   OF   ENGLISH,   JOHN    B.    STETSON    UNIVERSITY. 


v^-*^^^:^ 

f  OF  THE  A 

f    UNIVERSITY  ] 

OF 


BOSTON,  U.S.A.: 
D.  C.  HEATH   AND  COMPANY. 

1898. 


GENERAL 


Copyright,  1898, 
BY  J.  W.   BRAY. 


PREFACE. 


THE  purpose  of  the  following  work  is  to  trace  the 
changes  of  meaning  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  chief  terms  employed  in  English  criticism.  It  is 
intended  to  be  purely  a  study  in  criticism,  and  not  to 
repeat  information  which  can  be  obtained  from  an 
ordinary  dictionary.  The  organizing  idea  of  the  work 
is  found  in  the  grouping  of  the  terms  in  the  Appendix. 
It  is  assumed  that  if  the  history  of  two  or  three  of 
the  most  important  terms  of  each  group  is  given  in 
full,  the  history  of  the  synonymous  and  negative 
expressions  will  also  have  been  given,  at  least  as  far 
as  their  critical  and  literary  significance  is  concerned. 
Hence  the  secondary  terms  are  given  but  scant  notice, 
and  their  critical  import  is  to  be  gathered  mostly  from 
the  larger  terms  of  their  respective  groups. 

The  history  of  the  unimportant  terms  is  thus  given 
only  in  outline.  Extensive  tables  were  constructed 
showing  the  first  use  and  frequency  of  occurrence  at 
different  times  with  regard  to  each  critical  term. 
These  tables  have  been  employed  very  largely  in  de- 
termining the  relative  influence  of  the  different  critical 
terms,  and  they  furnish  the  basis  for  many  statements, 

1VS4076 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  authority  for  which  it  has  not  been  possible  to 
present  in  the  printed  text. 

The  present  investigation  grew  out  of  class  work  in 
Criticism  in  the  University  of  Chicago.  It  was  found 
that  the  study  of  Criticism  was  vague  and  uncertain 
as  long  as  the  terms  were  left  undefined,  about  which 
as  central  points  the  critical  discussions  usually  turn. 
Prof.  Wm.  D.  MacClintock  suggested  the  present  un- 
dertaking, and  he  has  aided  very  materially  in  its 
prosecution.  As  completed,  it  represents  more  than 
three  years  of  almost  continuous  labor. 

About  fourteen  hundred  terms  have  been  mentioned 
or  defined  in  historical  perspective,  —  terms  all  of 
which  have  been  employed  in  applied  criticism  as  a 
direct  means  of  estimating  literary  work.  The  history 
of  the  changes  of  meaning  in  such  terms  bears  the 
same  relation  to  Rhetoric  as  practice  does  to  theory ; 
and  innumerable  data  are  furnished  in  the  present 
work  for  the  historical  study  of  ^Esthetics.  Applied 
Criticism,  in  fact,  is  the  common  meeting  ground  for 
rhetorical  theory  and  the  aesthetic  instincts ;  the  final 
test  of  the  truthfulness  and  accuracy  of  the  one,  and 
of  the  genuineness  and  strength  of  the  other.  And 
this,  which  is  true  of  Criticism  in  general,  is  especially 
true  of  those  concentrated  methods  of  criticism  which 
find  expression  in  the  use  of  critical  terms. 

Among  the  best  critics  of  late,  there  is  a  decided 
tendency  toward  a  more  careful  and  discriminative 
use  of  critical  terms.  This  is  only  saying  that  the 
study  of  literature  has,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least, 


PREFACE.  vii 

become  aware  of  its  own  methods  and  assumptions. 
No  one  critic  has  ever  made  use  of  half  the  critical 
vocabulary  which  is  here  presented.  Wrong  construc- 
tions of  meaning  have  been  given  to  terms,  and  con- 
troversies have  been  waged  with  no  real  ground  for 
disagreement.  Much  needless  confusion  would  be 
avoided  by  placing  in  clear  relief  the  historical  se- 
quence of  meanings  which  has  taken  place  in  the  dif- 
ferent terms ;  by  remembering  that  any  meaning  once 
developed  in  a  term  tends  to  persist  in  some  manner 
to  the  present ;  that  though  terms  and  words  fade  and 
pass  away,  principles  abide  and  remain.  And  this 
represents  the  standpoint  and  purpose  of  the  following 
work. 

J.  W.  B. 


INTRODUCTION. 


I.    WHAT  is  A  CRITICAL  TERM? 

BEFORE  entering  upon  the  history  of  the  different 
critical  terms,  it  will  first  be  necessary  to  deter- 
mine as  accurately  as  possible  what  a  critical  term  is, 
by  what  formal  signs  or  characteristics  it  may  be  rec- 
ognized, and  what  part  it  plays  in  the  general  process 
and  methods  of  criticism.  In  order  to  do  this,  it  may 
perhaps  be  best  to  begin  with  the  most  simple  and 
typical  use  of  a  critical  term,  and  then  trace  the  modi- 
fication of  this  simple  type  into  the  most  complex, 
intricate,  and  uncertain  forms  that  occur  in  actual 
criticism. 

There  are  two  elementary  uses  and  forms  of  state- 
ment for  critical  terms.  '{The  most  simple  and  typical 
form  of  statement  occurs  when  the  term  is  the  unstudied 
expression  of  a  spontaneous  feeling,  —  a  feeling  which 
represents  an  aesthetic  appreciation  of  some  unified  por- 
tion of  literary  work.  The  critic,  let  us  suppose,  has 
just  read  the  literary  production.  His  mind  passes  over 
it  swiftly  in  review  again  and  again.  Certain  features 
of  the  composition  tend  to  rise  into  prominence  more 

1 


2         A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

than  others,  —  the  language  perhaps,  the  sentiment,  the 
imagery,  its  truthfulness  to  actual  life,  —  but  these  are 
quickly  blended  again  into  the  general  unified  impression. 
The  attention  of  the  critic  is  wholly  occupied  with  the 
literary  work.  It  thoroughly  arouses  his  sensibilities 
and  feelings,  which,  by  their  inherent  force,  call  for 
expression  in  language.  Unconsciously  as  it  were, 
the  intense  aesthetic  feeling  appropriates  some  word 
or  phrase  for  its  expression.  A  critical  judgment  is 
thus  spontaneously  formed.  Some  unified  portion  of 
literature  is  the  subject,  the  appropriated  word  or 
phrase  is  the  predicate  of  the  critical  judgment.  The 
attention  is  centred  upon  the  subject  of  the  judg- 
ment ;  the  predicate,  or  critical  term,  is,  so  far  as  re- 
lates to  the  immediate  experience,  evolved  wholly  out 
of  the  subject. 

In  the  second  elementary  use  of  a  critical  term,  the 
attention  is  divided  between  the  predicate  and  subject 
of  the  critical  judgment.  The  discriminating  and 
selective  powers  of  the  mind  are  brought  into  full 
play  in  determining  the  word  or  phrase  by  which  to 
characterize  the  literary  work.  The  literary  work 
may  have  been  quite  as  fully  appreciated  by  the  critic 
as  in  the  former  type  of  judgment.  But  the  aesthetic 
feeling  which  it  aroused  has  passed  for  the  most  part 
into  the  memory.  Continual  effort  is  required  to 
recall  it  into  the  focus  of  attention.  One  critical  term 
after  another  is  suggested  by  it,  or  is  brought  to  it 
for  comparison ;  and  the  one  which  is  finally  chosen, 
is  usually  felt  to  be  more  or  less  inadequate  to  indi- 


INTRODUCTION.  8 

cate  the  original  feeling  in  its  fulness.     A  relation  of 
some    kind   is   asserted   to   exist   between    the   subject 
and  the   predicate  of  the   critical  judgment,  but  they 
are   not   identified   with   each   other.      They   represent 
two  experiences  intellectually  joined,  and  not  a  single 
experience  blended  into  a  close  emotional  unity. 
.    These  two  elementary  uses  of  a  critical   term  may 
be  represented  by  the  following  forms  of  statement : 
I.   This  poem  is  sublime. 

II.   This  poem  has  sublimity. 

The  first  may  be  called  the  aesthetic  type  of  critical 
judgment,  the  second,  the  scientific  type.  Under  one 
of  these  two  general  types,  all  uses  whatever  of  critical 
terms  may  be  classified. 

In  the  scientific  type  of  judgment,  the  predicate  is 
not  identified  with  the  subject,  is  not  taken  up  into  it. 
A  poem  may  have  or  contain  a  multitude  of  things 
which  are  of  no  literary  significance  whatever.  One 
can  never  tell  in  this  form  of  statement  whether  the 
predicate  represents  an  essential  or  only  an  accidental 
trait  of  the  literary  work ;  whether  the  subject  or  lit- 
erary work  is  characterized  as  a  whole  or  only  in  some 
of  its  unimportant  details.  Hence  the  predicate  can 
be  regarded  as  a  complete  critical  term  only  in  so  far 
as  it  conforms  to  the  aesthetic  type  of  a  critical  judg- 
ment, in  so  far  as  the  characterizing  word  or  phrase 
results  immediately  from  the  feeling  aroused  by  some 
unified  portion  of  literary  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  scientific  type  of  judgment 
is  an  essential  prerequisite  for  the  development  of  the 


4        A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

aesthetic  type.  It  continually  presents  possibilities  for 
the  wider  and  yet  wider  activity  of  the  aesthetic  feel- 
ings and  sensibilities,  —  possibilities  a  few  of  which 
are  appropriated  and  made  use  of,  but  many  of  which 
are  not.  The  primitive  aesthetic  predicate  is  a  mere 
exclamation  of  satisfaction  and  approval.  It  is  the 
discriminating  influence  of  the  scientific  method  of 
judgment  that  causes  this  primitive  critical  term  to 
become  differentiated  into  all  the  subtle  distinctions 
which  critical  terms  now  possess.  The  two  types  of 
critical  judgment  are  thus  complementary  and  indis- 
pensable to  each  other.  The  predicate  of  the  scientific 
type  possesses  relative  critical  significance,  but  it  is 
to  the  predicate  of  the  aesthetic  type  of  judgment  that 
one  must  look  for  the  most  representative  use  of  a 
critical  term. 

The  great  body  of  actual  criticism,  however,  does 
not  conform  exactly  to  either  of  these  types  of  judg- 
ment. Terms  are  scarcely  ever,  if  at  all,  purely  aesthetic 
in  their  significance,  and  the  predicate  of  the  scientific 
form  of  judgment  is  always  more  or  less  identified  with 
the  subject,  and  thus  has,  to  that  extent,  the  full  force 
of  a  critical  term.  It  is  only  within  the  present  cen- 
tury that  these  two  types  of  critical  judgment  have  in 
theory  been  distinguished  from  each  other,  and  have 
been  assumed  as  the  bases  for  distinct  systems  of  criti- 
cism. The  types  given  are  ideal  forms,  by  means  of 
which  it  will  now  be  necessary  to  explain  the  complex 
forms  of  actual  criticism. 

The  simplest  variation  of  the  ideal  forms  arises  from 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

the  grammatical  modification  of  the  copula,  from  the 
different  methods  employed  in  connecting  the  subject 
with  the  predicate  of  the  critical  judgment.  Of  the 
aesthetic  type  of  judgment,  the  chief  grammatical  vari- 
ation consists  in  the  omission  of  the  copula,  and  the 
placing  of  the  characterizing  word  or  phrase  as  an 
immediate  adjective  modifier  of  the  subject.  E.  g. :  — 

Eloquent  and  stirring  passages.     T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  of  Eng.  Lit., 
p.  248. 

There  are  many  grammatical  variations  of  the  scientific 
type  of  judgment.  In  all  instances  alike,  however,  a 
preposition  intervenes  between  the  subject  and  the 
predicate  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  them  be  iden- 
tified with  each  other  only  in  part.  E.  g. :  — 

The  easy  vigour  of  Horace.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  259. 
Shakespeare   hath  .  .  .  deformed  his   best  plays   with  prodigious 

incongruities.     HURD,  I.,  p.  69. 
There  is  great  picturesque  humour   in  the   following  lines.      T. 

WARTON,  H.  E.  P.,  p.  187. 
The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  is  ...  full  of  bustle,   animation,  and 

rapidity  of  action.     HAZLITT,  Shak.,  p.  219. 

Such  grammatical  modifications  of  the  types,  however, 
do  not  really  complicate  the  use  nor  render  difficult 
the  recognition  of  critical  terms.  They  are  little  more 
than  paraphrases  which  easily  reduce  to  the  simple 
types.  But  they  do  give  evidence  of  the  intimate  re- 
lation which  exists  between  the  two  types,  and  indicate 
how  these  types  blend  imperceptibly  into  each  other. 
The  real  complication  in  the  use  of  critical  terms 
arises  from  the  influence  of  two  tendencies,  —  from  the 
tendency  to  analyze,  and  from  the  tendency  to  use 


6        A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

figurative  language.  Analysis  is  characteristic  of  the 
scientific  type  of  judgment,  figurative  language  of  the 
aesthetic  type. 

The  analytic  tendency  manifests  itself  primarily  in 
the  subject  of  the  critical  judgment.  The  possible 
predicates,  which  have  been  discriminated  and  rejected, 
do  not  appear  in  the  predicate  of  the  completed  judg- 
ment. In  the  subject,  on  the  other  hand,  the  literary 
work,  or  some  portion  of  it,  considered  in  its  unity, 
furnishes  a  standard  of  reference  by  which  the  extent 
of  the  analysis  can  easily  be  determined.  This  differ- 
entiation of  the  subject  may  be  roughly  classed  as  of 
four  general  kinds. 

One  of  the  most  common  subjects  of  the  critical 
judgment  in  actual  criticism  consists  of  the  language 
or  of  some  feature  of  the  mechanical  construction  of 
the  composition.  This  often  represents  the  most  ex- 
treme analytic  tendency  in  criticism ;  though,  on  the 
other  hand,  many  of  the  most  purely  aesthetic  terms 
have  taken  their  rise  from  this  very  source.  E.  g. :  — 

Vida's  versification  is   often   hard  and  spondaic.      HALLAM,  Lit. 
Hist.,  I.,  p.  437- 

Often,  also,  some  characteristic  of  the  literary  pro- 
duction, some  predicate  of  a  former  critical  judgment, 
is  assumed  as  an  established  fact,  and  is  made  the 
subject  of  a  new  judgment.  This  may  occur  with  or 
without  the  connecting  copula.  E.  g. :  - 

Simplicity  in  Burns  is  never  stale  and  unprofitable.     LANDOR,  IV., 

p.  54. 
Classically  correct.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  357- 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

Frequently,  as  the  exact  opposite  to  the  language 
and  mechanical  construction  of  the  composition,  the 
thought  or  sentiment  expressed  is  made  the  subject  of 
the  critical  judgment.  This  and  the  preceding  class 
of  subjects  are  intimately  related  to  each  other.  E.  g. : 

A   certain  intenseness  in  the  sentiment.      HAZLITT,  Age  of  Eliza- 
beth, p.  177. 
Humour,  though  not  of  the  most  delicate  kind.     CAMPBELL,  p.  15. 

The  fourth  class  of  analytic  subjects  represents  an 
extremely  slight  analysis  and  abstraction  of  the  aesthetic 
feeling.  The  subject  is  almost  identical  with  the  uni- 
fied impression  of  the  literary  production.  The  unified 
impression,  however,  is  not  an  immediate  impression. 
It  has  passed  into  the  memory  and  is  represented  by 
some  such  word  as  "air,"  "manner,"  "tone,"  "strain," 
or  «  style."  E.g.:- 

Massinger's  dialogues  subside  in  the  proper  places  to  a  refreshing 
conversational  tone.     LOWELL,  Old  Eng.  Poets,  p.  122. 

All  such  division  or  abstraction  of  the  subject  reacts 
upon  the  predicate.  It  is  always  possible  to  apply 
many  epithets  to  the  special  features  or  traits  of  a 
literary  work  which  would  not  naturally  be  employed 
to  characterize  the  literary  work  as  a  whole.  In  the 
scientific  method  of  judgment,  characterizing  words 
and  phrases  are  thus  brought  into  the  predicate  which 
possess  little  critical  significance,  and  in  this  method 
of  judgment  all  predicated  characteristics  are  incom- 
plete critical  terms  to  the  extent  that  the  subject  is 
but  a  partial  representation  of  literary  work  consid- 
ered in  its  completeness  and  unity. 


8        A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  modification  of  the  ideal  forms  of  statement 
from  the  tendency  to  use  figurative  language  is  seen 
in  both  the  predicate  and  subject  of  the  critical  judg- 
ment. The  modifying  influence  of  figurative  language 
in  the  predicate  may  be  said  to  exert  itself  in  four 
ways.  By  far  the  most  usual  method  consists  in  the 
use  of  synonymous  and  heightened  expressions  in  con- 
nection with  critical  terms  already  well  established 
and  familiar.  The  critical  significance  of  the  old  term 
is  brought  into  prominence  by  the  unexpected  newness 
of  the  reinforcing  term.  Often  there  is  merely  a  fringe 
of  novelty  given  to  the  familiar  conception,  often  there 
is  a  decided  extension  of  its  meaning.  The  desire  for 
the  rhetorical  variation  of  the  well-known  critical  term 
has  become  a  mania  with  a  few  recent  critics,  whose 
skill  in  accomplishing  this  result  has  rendered  neces- 
sary, the  mention  in  the  present  »volume  of  several  hun- 
dred such  figurative  and  sporadic  critical  terms.  E.g. :  — 

There  is  a  profusion  in  Childe  Harold  which  must  appear  mere 
wastefulness  to  more  economical  writers.  JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  456. 

There  are  indeed  portions  of  the  Faery  Queen  which  are  not,  vital, 
which  are,  so  to  speak,  excrementitious.  DOWDEN,  Tr.  and 
Studies,  p.  287. 

Often  some  conception  which  is  familiar  in  ordinary 
life  is  transferred  by  a  bold  figure  of  speech  into  the 
predicate  of  a  critical  judgment,  with  little  or  no  inter- 
vention or  support  from  a  critical  term  already  well 
established.  E.  g. :  - 

Jeremy  Taylor's  style  is  prismatic.  It  unfolds  the  colours  of  the 
rainbow.  HAZLITT,  Elizabethan  Lit.,  p.  233. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

Another  source  of  figurative  variation  in  the  predi- 
cate arises  from  the  transference  into  criticism  of 
conceptions  which  have  a  more  immediate  aesthetic 
significance  than  those  just  mentioned.  Any  effect, 
however  partial  or  accidental,  which  the  literary  work 
produces  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  is  made  the 
predicate  of  the  critical  judgment,  and  thus  seems  to 
refer  directly  to  the  literary  work  itself.  This  it  can 
do  only  in  so  far  as  it  has  become  well  established  as 
a  critical  term,  as  it  has  been  employed  again  and 
again  as  a  means  of  characterizing  literary  work,  as 
the  original  figure  of  speech  has  died  out  of  the  term, 
and  it  has  ceased  to  be  thought  of  merely  as  a  personal 
state  of  feeling.  U.  g. :  — 

Cloying  perhaps  in  the  uniformity  of  its  beauty.    JEFFREY,  III., 
p.  136. 

Occasionally  the  figurative  variation  consists  in  bring- 
ing by  analogy  into  criticism  terms  which  in  the  arts 
related  to  literature  are  already  well  established.  During 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  terms  thus  appropriated  by 
literary  criticism  came  chiefly  from  the  art  of  painting, 
during  the  present  century  from  the  art  of  music.  E.  g.  :— 

Mr.  Philipps  has  two  lines  which  seem  to  me  what  the  French  call 
very  picturesque. 

All  hid  in  snow,  in  bright  confusion  lie,  t 

And  with  one  dazzling  waste  confuse  the  eye. 

POPE,  VI.,  p.  178. 

In  the  subject  of  the  critical  judgment,  the  figurative 
tendency  assumes  the  form  of  a  more  or  less  direct 
personification.  The  author  himself  is  substituted  for 


10      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

his  literary  productions.  This  substitution  is  often 
merely  formal,  the  name  of  the  author  being  only  an 
abbreviated  and  enlivened  method  of  indicating  his 
complete  literary  work.  But  the  force  of  the  figure 
soon  makes  itself  manifest  in  the  predicate.  With  the 
author  as  subject,  instead  of  the  literary  production, 
the  predicate  also  becomes  more  figurative  and  enliv- 
ened. Personal  characteristics  are  predicated  of  the 
subject  rather  than  literary  characteristics.  This  sub- 
stitution of  the  author  for  the  literary  work  has  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  psychological  and  realistic 
spirit  of  the  present  century.  A  complete  explanation 
of  the  author's  mental  characteristics,  it  is  assumed, 
will  explain  the  literary  work  also.  Moreover,  an 
intensely  realistic  spirit  is  repelled  by  the  original 
figure  of  speech  in  the  statement  that  "This  poem  is 
sublime."  The  sublimity  ascribed  directly  to  the  poem, 
it  is  recognized,  is  really  derived  from  sources  outside 
the  poem, —  most  immediately,  perhaps,  from  the  mind 
of  the  author.  In  the  criticism  of  the  drama  and  the 
novel,  the  discussion  of  the  "  characters "  leads  to  the 
same  confusion  between  personal  and  literary  charac- 
teristics, and  thus  renders  the  critical  significance  of 
the  predicated  qualities  vague  and  uncertain.  E.  g. : 

.    His  tone  is  manly  and  gentlemanly.     WHIPPLE,  Character  and  Char. 

Men,  p.  89. 

Madame  de  Stael  had  more  vehemence  than  truth,  and  more  heat 
than  light.  (Quoted  from  Joubert.)  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S., 
p.  270. 

Thus  in  the  typical  forms  of  critical  judgment,  the 
predicate  refers  directly  to  the  subject  or  literary  work, 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

from  which  its  meaning  is  almost  wholly  derived.  But 
in  actual  criticism,  terms  are  continually  brought  into 
the  predicate  of  the  judgment,  representing  conceptions 
which  are  well  known  in  ordinary  life,  but  are  not  usu- 
ally regarded  as  having  any  literary  significance.  The 
predicate  of  the  judgment  thus  receives  constant  modi- 
fication from  influences  that  lie  beyond  the  immediate 
province  of  literary  art,  —  from  the  personal  traits  of 
the  author ;  from  effects  produced  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader ;  from  conceptions  familiar  in  ordinary  life ;  and 
from  terms  brought  over  by  analogy  from  the  related 
arts. 

These  influences  continually  furnish  material  for  the 
critical  judgment  and  give  to  it  its  ultimate  meaning. 
In  a  very  large  portion  of  actual  criticism,  no  overt 
critical  judgment  is  expressed.  These  surrounding 
influences  of  the  literary  work  are  dwelt  upon  and 
analyzed.  The  literary  production  is  discussed  in  its 
relation  to  the  author,  to  the  reader,  to  the  environ- 
ment in  general,  and  to  other  arts,  but  none  of  its 
definite  characteristics  are  given.  But  behind  all  this 
personal  reminiscence,  paraphrase,  and  mere  explana- 
tion, there  is  always  assumed  a  critical  judgment, 
which  can  often  be  detected  and  more  or  less  definitely 
stated.  Of  these  assumed  critical  judgments,  which 
make  no  use  of  critical  terms,  the  following  examples 
may  be  given :  — 

I.   Personal  characteristics  of  the  author.     E.  g. :  — 

Drvden  had  strong  reason  rather  than  quick  sensibility.     S.  JOHN- 
SON, VII.,  p.  339. 


12     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

II.  Effects  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader.     E.  g. :  — 

Neither  the  inner  recesses  of  thought  nor  the  high  places  of  art 
thrill  to  his  appeal.     KOSSETTI,  Lives  of  F.  P.,  p.  234. 

III.  The  general  environment  of  the  literary  work. 
Kg.:  — 

Now  the  same  soil  that  produced  Bacon  and  Hooker  produced 
Shakespeare.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  23. 

IV.  Comparison  of  different  art  effects  without  any 
definite  standard  of  comparison.     E.  g.:  — 

The  effect  of  Virgil's  poetry  is  like  that  of  some  laborious  mosaic  of 
many  years'  putting  together.     CARLYLE,  Hist,  of  Lit.,  p.  53. 

It  is  evident  that  such  statements  are  composed  of 
explanations,  analyses,  and  discussions  preparatory  to 
criticism,  and  can  in  no  sense  of  the  word  be  consid- 
ered as  criticism  proper. 

In  real  criticism,  the  critic  as  a  critic  must  deal  at 
first  hand  with  the  literary  production  considered  as  a 
literary  production.  He  will  explain  and  analyze,  but 
this  only  as  preliminary  to  the  characterization  of  the 
literary  work  under  discussion.  The  characterizing 
words  and  phrases  are  always  critical  terms.  Words 
which  are  repeatedly  employed  in  the  characterization 
of  literature,  which  are  persistently  placed  as  predicate 
of  the  typical  critical  judgment,  acquire  a  meaning 
which  is  more  or  less  peculiar  to  their  use  in  criticism. 
Such  only  are  really  critical  terms,  and  the  number 
of  such  words  is  relatively  very  small.  The  history 
of  the  figurative  and  sporadic  terms  belongs  to  the 
general  dictionary  of  the  language  rather  than  to  the 
vocabulary  of  criticism.  But  in  order  to  present  not 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

only  the  real,  but  also  the  possible  critical  vocabulary, 
these  figurative  terms  have,  in  the  following  work, 
received  a  brief  mention  also. 

II.     GENERAL  HISTORICAL  TENDENCIES  AND  MOVEMENTS 
IN  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

There  are  certain  broad  lines  of  development  or 
principles  of  differentiation,  common  to  critical  terms, 
which,  to  avoid  constant  repetition  in  the  text,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  state  in  the  present  connection.  These 
principles  are  for  the  mosc  part  independent  of  each 
other.  They  are  both  logical  and  historical,  and  can 
perhaps  be  best  represented  by  occasionally  referring 
to  the  ideal  form  of  judgment  given  in  the  preceding 
section. 

It  is  a  truism  in  logic  that  the  predicate  of  one 
judgment  is  taken  up  into  the  subject  of  the  next 
judgment.  This  augmentation  or  growth  of  content 
in  the  subject  of  judgment  takes  place  in  the  history 
of  critical  terms,  but  the  growth  of  content  or  meaning 
in  the  subject  is  less  rapid  than  in  the  case  of  the 
individual  judgment.  Every  term  which  persists  as 
the  predicate  of  a  typical  critical  judgment,  which  has 
thus  really  come  to  be  a  critical  term,  not  only  tends 
to  pass  into  the  subject,  but  also  to  organize,  to  system- 
atize other  terms  which  may  be  used  in  the  predicate. 
The  well-established  term  will  be  used  synonymously 
with  other  terms,  or  in  contrast  with  them,  or  still 
more  often  they  will  be  placed  as  subordinate  to  it. 
Often  a  strong  organizing  or  schematizing  influence  is 


14      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

exerted  over  the  more  specific  critical  terms  by  some 
general  expression  which  is  itself  very  little  employed 
as  an  active  critical  term.  Such  was  the  term  "  Gothic  " 
previous  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
such  are  the  terms  "  romantic  "  and  "  classical "  in  the 
present  century. 

A  general  term  or  expression,  in  so  far  as  it  organ- 
izes and  classifies  the  more  specific  terms  of  the  predi- 
cate, tends  to  become  an  integral  part  of  the  subject, 
to  enlarge  or  enrich  the  conception  of  literary  compo- 
sition itself,  and  perhaps  to  designate  more  or  less 
distinctly  a  class  or  species  or  general  division  of  lit- 
erature. All  classifying  terms  are  also  schematizing 
terms,  but  the  opposite  is  not  true  to  an  equal  extent. 
The  term  "  Gothic,"  until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  though  exerting  a  strong  schematizing  influ- 
ence over  the  active  and  specific  terms  of  criticism, 
\vas  not  regarded  as  in  any  sense  representing  an 
integral  part  of  real  literature.  E.  g. :  — 

One  may  look  upon  Shakespeare's  works  in  comparison  of  tliose 
that  are  more  finished  and  regular,  as  upon  an  ancient  majestic 
piece  of  Gothic  architecture,  compared  with  a  neat  modern  build- 
ing ;  the  latter  is  more  elegant  and  glaring,  but  the  former  is 
more  strong  and  more  solemn.  POPE,  X.,  p.  549. 

All  well-established  critical  terms  tend  ir_  this  man- 
ner to  become  classifying  terms.  This  is  true  of  the 
criticism  of  individual  authors  and  of  literature  in  gen- 
eral. Sublimity  is  an  integral  portion  of  our  concep- 
tion of  Milton's  works,  and  we  look  for  more  definite 
characterization.  In  the  present  century  it  is  always 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

assumed  that  any  and  every  literary  composition  must 
in  some  manner  be  true  to  actual  life.  To  portray  the 
specific  manner  in  which  this  truthfulness  is  mani- 
fested is  the  problem  for  criticism.  Truth  to  real  life 
is  a  part  of  our  conception  of  literature  itself. 

All  classifying  terms,  however,  were  not  thus  origi- 
nally derived  from  the  predicate  of  the  critical  judg- 
ment. Those  terms  which  most  persistently  represent 
a  class  or  species  of  literature,  —  such  as  dramatic, 
lyrical,  and  epic,  —  have  without  exception  appeared 
in  the  subject  first,  have  uniformly  indicated  at  first 
the  external  circumstances  under  which  literature  was 
produced,  or  the  mechanical  forms  which  it  assumed, 
and  possessed  no  real  literary  significance  whatever. 

Whether  thus  mechanically  derived,  or  whether  taken 
up  into  the  subject  from  the  predicate,  any  classifying 
term,  in  so  far  as  it  becomes  established  firmly  and 
beyond  all  question,  possesses  little  or  no  immediate 
critical  significance.  Lyric  poetry  is  simply  lyrical, 
being  neither  worse  nor  better  for  the  fact.  But  there 
are  three  influences  which  operate  continually  to  bring 
these  established  classifying  terms  into  touch  with  ac- 
tive critical  terms.  In  the  first  plaee,  the  more  firmly 
fixed  the  classifying  word  is,  the  greater  is  its  sche- 
matizing influence  over  other  critical  terms.  The 
poem  is  not  merely  lyrical,  dramatic  or  classical,  but 
it  has  "  lyric  sweetness,"  u  dramatic  vigor,"  or  u  clas- 
sical purity  of  expression."  In  the  second  place,  the 
different  classes  or  species  of  literature  are  usually 
held  by  the  critics  in  relatively  higher  or  lower  esteem, 


16      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

and  this  gives  a  certain  amount  of  critical  significance 
to  the  terms  by  which  the  different  classes  or  species 
are  designated.  E.  g.\  — 

Tasso  confesses  himself  too  lyrical,  beneath  the  dignity  of  heroic 
verse.  DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  15. 

Some  kinds  of  poetry  are  in  themselves  lower  kinds  than  others. 
The  ballad  kind  is  a  lower  kind.  The  didactic  kind,  still  more, 
is  a  lower  kind.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  139. 

In  the  third  place,  however  rigidly  a 


of  literature  may  be  defined  in  theory,  there  continu- 
ally arises  the  practical  need  for  deciding  under  what 
species  or  division  new  or  unnoted  features  of  litera- 
ture are  to  be  classified.  In  making  this  classification, 
the  theoretical  definition  of  the  classifying  term  is  usu- 
ally modified  and  its  critical  significance  brought  more 
or  less  into  the  foreground  of  attention.  In  this  manner 
the  term  "  lyrical,"  representing  at  first  any  passionate 
or  "pathetic"  strain  ofjsong,  —  in  opposition  to  epic 
and  dramatic  action,  —  has,  from  the  great  increase 
of  subjective  literature  in  the  present  century,  under- 
gone a  complete  transformation  of  meaning. 

In  determining  the  meaning  of  a  critical  term,  it  is 
necessary  constantly  to  distinguish  between  theoretical 
and  applied  criticism.  Terms  are  sometimes  applied 
directly  to  literature,  and  sometimes  they  are  merely 
theoretically  defined  and  explained.  Nor  can  the 
theory  of  a  term  at  any  given  period  of  time  be  taken 
by  any  means  as  a  sure  index  to  its  actual  use  in  ap- 
plied criticism.  Even  in  the  same  author,  theory  and 
practice  are  often  quite  at  variance  with  each  other. 
Kg.:  — 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

The  sum  of  all  that  is  merely  objective  we  will  henceforth  call 
nature,  confining  the  term  to  its  passive  and  material  sense,  as 
comprising  all  the  phenomena  by  which  its  existence  is  made 
known  to  us.  COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  335. 

The  wonderful  twilight  of  the  mind !  and  mark  Cervantes's  courage 
in  daring  to  present  it,  and  trust  to  a  distant  posterity  for  an 
appreciation  of  its  truth  to  nature.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  274. 

Theoretical  criticism  represents  the  full  analytic  con- 
sciousness, which  exists  at  any  time,  of  the  influences 
entering  into  the  formation  of  the  typical  critical  judg- 
ment. But  in  the  typical  judgment  itself,  this  analytic 
consciousness  is  not  immediately  present  so  much  as 
the  aesthetic  feeling  for  the  literary  work  which  forms 
the  subject  of  the  judgment.  This  aesthetic  feeling, 
and  the  general  conception  of  literature  which  accom- 
panies it,  ultimately  controls  and  sets  the  limits  to 
the  analysis  and  theoretical  discussion  of  critical  terms 
and  principles.  Hence  the  direct  application  of  a  term 
to  literature  is  the  final  criterion  for  its  meaning  at 
any  given  period  of  its  history. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  theory  of  a  term  often 
reacts  upon  its  actual  application  to  literature  in  no 
uncertain  manner.  The  interaction  between  theoretical 
and  applied  criticism  is  intimate  and  mutual,  and  may 
be  said  to  take  place  in  three  ways :  First,  A  critic's 
theory  of  a  term  may  for  the  most  part  control  his 
applied  use  of  it ;  but  no  theory,  in  so  far  as  it  is  mere 
theory,  will  be  copied  by  other  critics.  Thus  Leigh 
Hunt  defined  passion  as  a  form  of  suffering,  and  Moul- 
ton  defines  it  as  a  form  of  literary  sympathy  or  appre- 
ciation. The  latter  critic  follows  up  his  definition  by 

2 


18     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

an  extended  application  of  the  term  to  literature,  but 
in  the  great  body  of  critical  usage  the  term  is  uni- 
formly connected  with  the  more  active  and  impulsive 
part  of  our  nature.  Second,  The  theory  of  a  term  and 
its  applied  use  are  often  made  exactly,  and  at  the  same 
time  conditionally,  equivalent  to  each  other,  the  theory 
of  the  term,  based  upon  current  usage,  being  stated 
definitely  and  explicitly  as  an  immediate  preliminary 
to  its  use  in  the  characterization  of  literature.  This 
method  of  criticism  has  been  coming  more  and  more 
into  use  since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
E.g.:  — 

The  French  writers  declare  that  the  English  writers  are  generally 
incorrect.  If  correctness  implies  an  absence  of  petty  faults,  this 
perhaps  may  be  granted ;  if  it  means  a  juster  economy  in  fables, 
the  notion  is  groundless  and  absurd.  J.  WARTON,  1.,  p.  196. 

Third,  The  theory  of  a  term  is  sometimes  derived  from 
an  applied  use  of  it  which  has  since  become  obsolete. 
This  corresponds  to  the  retrospective  stage  of  a  term's 
history,  and  will  be  spoken  of  later. 

The  theory  of  a  term  may  thus  usually  be  regarded 
as  an  approximate  statement  of  the  meaning  which  the 
term  possesses  when  actually  applied  to  literature ;  but 
the  theory  must  always  be  held  in  question  by  the  facts 
upon  which  it  is  based.  The  living  use  of  a  term  is 
the  only  real  key  to  its  meaning.  It  must  be  derived 
chiefly  from  the  growing  aesthetic  sense  of  what  literary 
art  is,  rather  than  from  the  more  or  less  mechanical 
analysis  of  what  literary  art  and  criticism  have  been 
and  mi^ht  be. 


-.  <'"     ^X^UA, 

*-^  (A   ot^/x'C*Mr'  wi'.; 


C>v  tfv"  ..n^,  «j  fvwtU.cA, 

INTRODUCTION.  19 

A  critical  term  may  be  theoretically  defined  in  two 
•general  ways.  Its  meaning  may  be  derived  from  the 
literary  composition  considered  as  a  completed  product, 
or  it  may  be  derived  from  the  mental  activities  of  the  , 
author  or  reader,  which  are  brought  into  play  in  the 
production  and  appreciation  of  the  literary  composi- 
tion. The  definition  and  classification  of  all  the  known 
critical  terms  and  principles  with  reference  to  the 
completed  composition  is  ideal  rhetoric\;  the  same 
definition  and  classification  with  reference  to  the 
mmd  of  the  author  or  reader  is  ideal  aesthetic.  There 
has  been  a  decided  change  in  English  criticism  from 
the  rhetorical  to  the  aesthetic  or  psychological  stand- 
point. This  change  has  manifested  itself  in  two  ways: 
In  the  first  place,  there  has  been  a  gradual  elimination 
of  technical  expressions  from  general  criticism.  Until 
within  the  eighteenth  century,  the  chief  terms  employed 
in  criticism  represented  for  the  most  part  principles  of 
language,  or  the  more  or  less  mechanical  features  of  a 
composition.  Most  of  these  terms  were  derived  from 
ancient  rhetoric,  and  their  meaning  was  very  largely 
determined  by  the  rules  which  the  rhetoricians  them- 
selves had  laid  down.  By  continually  referring  to  cer- 
tain fixed  traits  of  a  composition,  the  terms  became 
isolated  to  a  great  extent  from  their  ordinary  use  in 
speech,  and  there  was  often  required  for  their  compre- 
hension an  extensive  technical  knowledge  of  rhetoric 
and  criticism.  In  1700  there  were  some  three  hundred 
critical  terms  in  general  use,  about  half  of  which  were 
of  this  technical  nature,  —  such  terms  as  purity,  correct- 


20      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

ness,  proportion,  decency,  imitation,  characters,  manners. 
and  sentiments. 

But  when  literature  is  viewed  as  to  its  content  rather 
than  as  to  its  form,  its  relations  to  actual  life  become 
too  intimate  to  allow  of  such  a  technical  isolation  of 
meaning  in  critical  terms.  In  English  criticism,  tech- 
nical terms  have  constantly  been  paraphrased,  ex- 
plained, and  illustrated  by  more  popular  expressions, 
by  which  they  have  been  gradually  superseded,  or  to 
which  their  meaning  has  been  made  gradually  to  con- 
form. These  popular  expressions  may  be  merely 
explanatory,  figurative,  and  sporadic.  But  quite  as 
._often,  they  indicate  a  change  of  interest  in  criticism 
I  from  the  composition  considered  as  a  completed  prod- 
uct to  the  mental  powers  by  means  of  which  the  com- 
position is  called  forth  and  appreciated."!  There  have 
consequently  appeared  in  modern  criticism  a  multitude 
of  psychological  and  aesthetic  terms,  whose  meaning 
each  person  can  determine  in_great  measure  for  him- 
self, by  an  introspective  movement  of  his  own  mind. 
Of  the  fifteen  hundred  terms  which  constitute  the  pres- 
ent vocabulary  of  criticism,  perhaps  three  fourths  are 
^distinctively  of  this  psychological  nature. 

In  the  second  place,  the  change  from  the  rhetorical 
to  the  aesthetic  or  psychological  standpoint  is  seen  in 
the  greatly  increased  emphasis  which  in  criticism  has 
come  to  be  placed  upon  the  progressive  tendencies  in 
literature.  Any  completed  product,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
regarded  merely  as  a  completed  product,  as  external, 
and  disconnected  with  the  mind  producing  it,  is  always 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

thought  capable  of  being  reduced  to  fixed  rules  and 
methods.  Rhetoric,  whose  primary  concern  consists 
in  analyzing  and  classifying  the  characteristics  of  the 
^omplfited.__  composition,  tends  to  set  up  rules  which 
have  all  the  rigid  uniformity  of  a  mechanical  law  rather 
than  the  progressive  movement  of  a  developing  prin- 
ciple. Hence  rhetorical  terms  and  principles  look  to 
the  past  for  their  data,  by  the  authority  of  which  they 
would  restrict  future  variation  and  development.  Of 
such  a  conservative  character  were  the  great  body  of 
critical  terms  previous  to  the  latter  portion  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  —  terms  such  as  taste,  propriety, 
decorum,  correctness,  proportion*  and  even  truth  and 
nature.  E.  g.\  — 

Those  rules  of  old  discovered,  not  devised, 
Are  nature  still,  but  nature  methodised.     POPE. 

Since  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
this  conservative  critical  vocabulary  has  been  com- 
pletely revolutionized.  A  few  terms,  such  as  "  correct- 
ness," have  become  merely  jeiro^peative ;  others,  such 
as  "  proportion,"  in  being  explained  psychologically, 
have  entirely  changed  their  meaning ;  still  others,  such 
as  "  decorum,"  have  become  obsolete.  The  psycholog- 
ical terms  and  principles  of  modern  criticism  are  essen- 
tially prospective  in  their  outlook.  The  analytic  terms 
and  principles  of  psychology  have  received  little  men- 
tion in  criticism ;  but  the  synthetic  and  propulsive 
mental  energies  are  all  represented,  their  significance 
being  minutely  developed,  broadened,  and  strengthened. 


22      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Such  are  the  terms  sensibility,  feeling,  passion,  senti- 
ment, wit,  humor,  fancy,  imagination,  and  a  host  of 
related  expressions.  This  change  from  the  rhetorical 
to  the  psychological  standpoint  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance in  the  general  history  of  criticism.  In  a  history 
of  the  critical  vocabulary,  there  is  merely  required  the 
statement  of  the  fact  of  the  change,  and  the  general 
principle  which  produced  it.  The  details,  in  so  far  as 
they  appear,  will  be  found  in  the  history  of  the  sepa- 
rate terms. 

It  is  but  restating  the  law  of  all  development  to  say 
that  in  the  history  of  criticism  the  meaning  of  the 
terms  employed  has  shown  a  decided  change  from  the 
indefinite  to  the  definite.  Four  historical  stages  may 
be  distinguished  in  the  growth  toward  this  definite  use 
of  critical  terms. 

I.  Previous  to  the  latter  portion  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  terms  were  for  the  most  part  employed  singly, 
and   without   explanation   and   illustration.      Hence   it 
is  often  difficult  to  ascertain  their  meaning  with  any 
degree  of  exactness.     E.  g. :  — 

How  wonderful  are  the  pithey  poems  of  Cato.     LODGE,  p.  5. 

II.  From  the  latter  portion  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury until  near  tjie  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
critical    terms    were    usually    employed    synonymously, 
mutually  supporting  and  explaining  one  another.     That 
two  or  more  terms  are  applied  to  the  same  passage  of 
literature   by    a    critic    argues   that   they   held    in   his 
mind  some  sort  of  relation  to  one  another.     But  it  is 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

often  by  no  means  evident  on  the  printed  page  what 
that  relation  was.  Many  such  conglomerations  of  terms, 
in  fact,  must,  for  practical  purposes  of  definition,  be 
regarded  as  isolated  expressions.  Thus,  for  synony- 
mous use :  — 

Bold  and  impassioned  elevations  of  tragedy.  T.  WARTON,  Hist. 
Eng.  Poetry,  p.  866. 

III.  From  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury until  within  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present 
century,  critical  terms  were  very  generally  contrasted^ 
and  placed   in  opposition  with  one  another.     At  first, 
this   contrast   between   critical   terms   was   little    more 
than   a   rhetorical   antithesis.      The    contrast   between 
nature  and  art,  genius  and  talent,  was  made  with  the 
tacit  assumption  that  fundamentally  nature  and  genius 
lay  wholly  beyond  the   province    of   literary  art.     But  • 
this  assumption  came  to  be   questioned.      One  theory 
of  literature  was  placed  over  against  another  theory, 
and  almost  the  whole  critical  vocabulary  was  reorgan- 
ized arid  drawn  into  the  contention.     The  old  antitheses 
between   critical   terms   were    deepened    into    essential 
opposition,   and    new  antitheses    were  added  to   them. 
The  imagination  was    contrasted    with   the   fancy,  wit 
with  humor,  the  ideal  with   the  real,  and  above   and 
over  all  the  subjective  with  the  objective.     E.  g. :  — 

Spenser  .  .  .  left  no  Gothic  irregular  tracery  in  the  design  of  his 
great  work,  but  gave  a  classical  harmony  of  parts  to  its  stupen- 
dous pile.  CAMPBELL,  L,  p.  97. 

IV.  During    the    present   century,  —  and   especially 
during  the  latter  portion  of  it,  —  critical  terms   have 


24      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

been  very  generally  explained  in  connection  with  their 
application  to  literature.  This  has  already  been  spoken 
of  in  discussing  the  relations  between  theoretical  and 
applied  criticism.  If  the  explanation  of  the  term  is 
accomplished  merely  by  definition,  the  living  strength 
of  the  term  is  often  sacrificed  to  the  desire  for  exact- 
ness ;  but  if  the  explanation  is  accomplished  by  means 
of  illustration,  by  comparing  different  passages  of  lit- 
erature with  one  another,  such  a  sacrifice  need  not 
occur.  E.  g. :  — 

It  has  been  said  that  Tennyson  fails  in  passion,  and  when  men  say 
that,  they  mean  the  embodiment  of  love  in  verse.  BJIOOKE, 
Tennyson,  p.  201. 

There  is  still  another  general  historical  tendency 
among  critical  terms  which  requires  notice.  It  relates 
to  the  manner  in  which  new  terms  are  introduced  into 
the  vocabulary  of  criticism,  grow  into  favor,  and  then 
tend  to  pass  out  of  use  and  become  obsolete.  Critical 
principles  are  more  permanent  than  critical  terms,  but 
critical  principles  are  always  in  a  process  of  change 
and  development.  A  real  critical  principle  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  a  developing  principle.  Critical  terms,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  external  signs  or  symbols  of  these 
principles,  are  more  conservative.  Thus,  literature  was 
formerly  said  to  be  an  "  imitation  of  nature."  But 
when  literature  had  come  to  be  conceived  of  as  an 
intuition  of  what  was  sometimes  called  the  "  spirit 
of  nature,"  the  term  "imitation,"  unable  fully  to  ex- 
press the  new  conception,  was,  as  a  means  of  defining 


HISTORICAL    TENDENCIES  AND  MOVEMENTS.    25 

literature,  gradually  superseded  by  the  term  "imagina- 
tion." Certain  fundamental  terms,  such  as  "  truth " 
and  "  nature,"  seem  to  have  continued  in  use  while 
their  meaning  has  undergone  a  complete  transforma- 
tion. This  persistence,  however,  is  usually  more  appar- 
ent than  real.  "  Truth  "  has  been  largely  superseded  by 
the  term  "realism,"  and  "nature"  has  almost  ceased 
to  be  a  critical  term  in  applied  criticism. 

Many  terms,  introduced  into  criticism  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  reinforcing  other  terms  and  conceptions 
already  well  established,  have  been,  so  far  as  they  at- 
tracted any  attention  at  all,  received  into  favor  from 
the  beginning.  A  few  terms,  also,  such  as  u  pictur- 
esque "  and  "  musical,"  have  been  brought  over  into  good 
standing  at  once  from  related  arts.  But  most  of  the  im- 
portant critical  terms  now  in  use,  were  first  employed 
with  more  or  less  disfavor.  In  regard  to  the  favor  with 
which  they  have  been  received,  four  stages  may  be  dis- 
tinguished in  the  history  of  the  different  critical  terms. 

I.  In   the  first  stage,  the   principle   represented   by 
the  critical  term  is   recognized  as  an  active  influence 
in  literature,  but  this  influence  is  thought  to  be  more 
or  less  pernicious,  and  destructive  to  the  integrity  of 
literature  as  such.     The  term  "  Gothic,"  until  the  latter 
portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  in  this  stage  of 
development. 

II.  In  the  second  stage,  the  term  is  not  only  seen 
to   represent    influential   tendencies   in   current   litera- 
ture, but  these  tendencies  are  thought  to  be  essential 
to  literary  art  considered  as  literary  art.     The  term  is 


26      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

employed  not  only  in  explaining  current  literature, 
but  also  in  interpreting  the  literature  of  the  past. 
"  Correctness  "  and  u  propriety  "  were  so  employed  in 
the  eighteenth  century  ;  "  imagination,"  "  humor,"  and 
"  realism "  in  the  present  century. 

III.  In  the  third  stage,  the  term  represents  a  prin- 
ciple which  is  no  longer  active  to  any  considerable 
extent  in  current  literature.  Enough  appreciation  of 
the  principle  still  remains  for  it  to  be  regarded  as  an  in- 
tegral portion  of  literary  art.  The  term  is  thus  essen- 
tially retrospective,  and  for  an  abbreviated  form  of  state- 
ment may  be  spoken  of  as  a  retrospective  term.  The  term 
"  correct "  is  at  present  in  this  stage  of  its  history. 

IY.  In  the  fourth  stage,  the  term  represents  an  in- 
fluence once  prominent  in  literature,  which  has  since 
come  to  be  regarded  as  wholly  outside  the  limits  of 
the  real  province  of  literary  art.  The  more  formal 
signification  of  the  term  '^pprietv^"  is  at  present  in 
this  final  stage  of  its  critical  history. 

III.     METHOD    OP    DEALING    WITH    THE    SEPARATE 
CRITICAL  TERMS. 

The  general  conception  of  what  critical  terms  are, 
which  has  now  been  given,  and  of  the  historical  move- 
ments that  take  place  among  them,  has  determined  the 
method  employed  in  presenting  the  history  of  the  dif- 
ferent terms.  Critical  terms  are  regarded,  not  as  hav- 
ing a  significance,  which  is  the  result  of  mere  accidental 
association,  but  as  representing  critical  principles,  which 
at  a  certain  stage  of  their  development  require  new 


DEALING    WITH  SEPARATE    CRITICAL   TERMS.        27 

methods  of  expression,  and  appropriate  for  their  use 
certain  words  out  of  the  vocabulary  of  the  general  lan- 
guage. Hence,  corresponding  to  the  stages  of  devel- 
opment in  the  critical  principle,  the  history  of  the 
term  which  represents  it  will  tend  to  separate  itsell 
into  more  or  less  definitely  marked  periods.  The  gen- 
eral characteristics  of  the  term  in  each  period  of  its 
history  are  given,  —  characteristics  which  are  intended 
to  define  the  term  in  relation  to  the  principle  it  rep- 
resents, as  well  as  in  relation  to  the  more  or  less 
synonymous  expressions  which  merely  vary  or  rein- 
force the  common  meaning  of  the  general  principle. 
Occasionally  some  general  term,  during  a  single  period 
of  its  history,  has  two  or  three  different  uses;  but 
usually  there  is  a  characteristic  use  for  every  term  at 
any  given  time  or  period  of  its  history,  to  which  all 
its  special  uses  may  be  referred  for  explanation.  It 
is  this  characteristic  use  of  the  term  which  in  every 
instance  is  attempted  to  be  defined  or  represented. 
Any  use  of  a  term  once  established  tends  to  recur 
occasionally  in  a  conventional  manner  throughout  all 
the  later  stages  of  the  term's  development.  These 
purely  conventional  uses  of  a  term  need  not  for  his- 
torical purposes  be  taken  into  consideration.  Negative 
terms,  those  which  merely  deny  that  a  composition  pos- 
sesses a  certain  critical  or  literary  principle,  are  treated 
as  briefly  as  possible,  since  their  meaning  is  included 
in  that  of  the  positive  terms  to  which  they  are  opposed. 

With  terms   which   have   been   very  frequently    em- 
ployed in  criticism,  the  references  have  been  omitted, 


28      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

the  space  which  they  would  have  occupied  —  there  were 
more  than  twenty-five  thousand  of  them  —  being  given 
to  representative  quotations.  The  marginal  phrases, 
the  text,  and  the  quotations  ,are  intended  to  supple- 
ment one  another  in  defining  the  general  conception 
of  a  term  at  any  period  of  its  history.  The  marginal 
phrases  are  intended  to  suggest  the  essential  relations 
existing  between  the  different  periods  of  the  term's 
development ;  the  text  to  give  the  essential  relations 
between  the  special  uses  of  the  term  in  any  one  period 
of  its  history. 

It  was  the  design  at  first  to  present  the  history  of 
the  different  terms  in  groups  of  synonyms,  taking  up 
the  groups  in  the  order  of  their  greatest  historical 
influence.  But  for  case  of  reference,  it  has  been 
thought  best  to  arrange  the  terms  in  alphabetical 
order,  and  place  the  historical  grouping  of  synonyms 
in  an  appendix.  (See  Appendix.)  The  Roman  nu- 
merals placed  immediately  after  the  terms  indicate 
the  group  in  the  Appendix  to  which  the  terms  respec- 
tively belong.  The  historical  limit  of  the  terms  as 
given  —  e. g.  "Milton  to  present"  —  is  based  upon  their 
applied  use  in  the  main  current  of  criticism.  Mere 
theory,  unless  the  illustration  given  is  very  promi- 
nent and  significant,  has  not  been  regarded  as  giving 
active  current  usage  to  a  term;  and  the  historical 
limits  to  many  of  the  terms  would  no  doubt  be  much 
changed  by  a  study  of  minor  critics,  which,  from  the 
necessary  limits  of  the  present  investigation,  has  not 
been  permitted. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Nearly  all  the  works  of  criticism  in  the  Library  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  iii  the  Chicago  City  Library,  and  in  the  Newberry  Library  were 
read  and  consulted.  A  few -rare  books  were  obtained  from  private  sources. 
The  following  list  contains  those  works  to  which  most  frequent  reference  is 
made.  References  in  the  book  to  other  works  and  editions  than  those  men- 
tioned below  are  given  in  full  in  connection  with  the  separate  quotations. 

A.  Addison:   Bohn's  edition,    6  vols.,  London,   1891.      M.  Arnold: 

Works,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1883-1891.  T.  Arnold:  Man.  of  Eng. 
•Lit.,  London,  1888.  Ascham  :  3  vols.,  London,  1864. 

B.  Bacon:    Complete    Works,    Spcdding's    edition,    London,    1857. 

Bagehot :  Literary  Studies,  2  vols.,  London,  1891.  Beers : 
'2  vols.,  New  York,  1886  and  1891.  Bentley:  Complete  Works, 
3  vols.,  London,  1836-38.  Blair:  Rhetoric  and  Belles  Lettres, 
.University  edition,  Philadelphia.  Brooke:  3  vols.,  New  York 
and"  London,  1892-94.  E.  Browning :  Prose,  2  vols.,  London, 
1877-  Bryant:  Prose,  New  York,  1889.  Burke:  Bohn,  5  vols., 
London,  1881.  Byron :  Life  and  Letters,  Murray,  London,  1892. 

C.  Carnden :    Remains   Concerning  Britain,   London,    1870.      Camp- 

bell: Murray's  edition,  London,  1848.  Campion:  Works,  Bullen, 
London,  1889.  Carlyle :  Crit.  and  Mis.  Essays,  7  vols.,  London, 
1888-91.  Channing:  Remarks,  etc.,  on  Milton,  London,  1845. 
Coleridge:  Complete  Works,  7  vols.,  Sliedd,  New  York,  1884; 
Letters,  Boston  and  New  York,  1895.  Collier:  Murray,  London, 
1831.  Courthope  :  Lib.  Movement  in  Eng.  Lit.,  London,  1885. 

D.  Daniel:  Complete  Works,  4  vols.,  Grosart,  1885.     Dekker:  Huth 

Library,  5  vols.,  1884.  DeQuincey:  Masson's  edition,  Edin- 
burgh, 1889.  Dowden:  Works,  London,  1888-89.  Drydeii : 
Scott  and  Saintsbury  edition,  18  vols. 

B.  George  Eliot:  Essays,  Edinburgh  and  London,  1885.     Emerson: 
Works,  Hougliton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston,  1891-92. 


30      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

G.  Gascoigne:  Arber's  Reprints,  Birmingham,  1869.  Gibbon:  Mur- 
ray, 5  vols.,  1814.  Goldsmith:  Bolm,  London,  1886.  Gosse: 
5  vols.,  London,  1882-91 ;  A  Study  of  the  Writings  of  Bjornson, 
New  York,  1895.  Gosson:  Arber's  Reprints,  Birmingham,  1868. 
Gray :  Gosse's  edition,  4  vols.,  New  York,  1890. 

H.  Hallam :  Lit.  Hist.,  4  vols.,  London,  1882.  Harvey:  Grosart, 
London,  1884.  Haslewood :.  The  Arte  of  English  Poesie,  London, 
1815.  Hazlitt:  Works,  W.  C.  Hazlitt's  edition,  London,  1886. 
Hobbes :  Complete  Works,  Molesworth,  London,  1811.  Howells: 
Grit,  and  Fiction,  New  York,  1891.  D.  Hume:  Essays,  2  vols., 
Green  and  Grose,  London,  1889.  Hunt:  Prose,  London,  1891. 
Hurd  :  Complete  Wrorks,  London,  1811. 

J.  H.  James :  Partial  Portraits,  London,  1888.  K.  James :  Arber's 
Reprints,  Birmingham,  1869.  Jeffrey  :  Lougmann  et  al.,  editors, 
1846.  S.  Johnson:  Complete  Works,  11  vols.,  London,  1825. 
B.  Jonson:  Timber,  Schelling's  edition,  Boston,  1892;  Complete 
Works,  3  vols.,  London,  1889. 

K.  Keats :  Letters,  New  York,  1891 ;  Life  and  Letters,  London, 
1889. 

L.  Lamb:  Works,  New  York,  1887-90.  Landor:  Life  and  Works, 
London,  1876.  Lodge:  Collier,  1851.  Lowell:  Works,  Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York,  1892. 

M.  Macaulay:  Mis.  Works,  4  vols.,  Trevelyan  edition,  New  York. 
Mathews:  Literary  Studies.  Milton:  Prose,  London,  1890. 
Minto:  Man.  of  Eng.  Prose  Lit.,  Char,  of  Eng.  Poets,  Boston, 
1891.  J.  Morley:  Works,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  London,  1891. 
Moulton :  Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist,  Oxford,  1888. 

N.  Newman  :  Essay  on  Aristotle's  Poetics,  Boston,  1891. 

P.  Pater:  Appreciations,  etc.,  London,  1890.  Poe :  Works,  4  vols., 
New  York.  ,  Pope:  Courthope,  etc.,  10  vols.,  London,  1871-86. 
Puttenham :  Arber  Reprints,  Birmingham,  1869. 

R.  Robertson :  Essays  toward  a  Critical  Method,  London,  1889. 
Rossetti :  Lives  of  Famous  Poets,  London,  1878.  Preface  to 
Blake's  Poetical  Works,  London,  1891.  Ruskin:  Works,  New 
York,  1891.  Rymer:  Tragedies,  Parts  I.  and  II.,  London, 
1692-93. 

S.  Saintsbury :  Specimens  of  English  Prose  Style,  London,  1885; 
Hist,  of  Eug.  Lit.,  vol.  ii.,  Macmillan,  London;  Essays  in  Eng. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  31 

Lit.,  1780-1860,  New  York,  1891;  A  Short  Hist,  of  Er.  Lit., 
Oxford,  1892 ;  A  Hist,  of  19th  Century  Lit.,  New  York,  1896. 
Scott:  Editor  of  Dryden,  Edinburgh,  1882;  Editor  of  Swift, 
London,  1883.  Shaftesbury :  Complete  Works,  3  vols.,  1757. 
Shelley:  Complete  Works,  3  vols.,  Eorman,  London,  1880. 
Sherman :  Analytics  of  Lit.,  Boston,  1893.  Sidney :  Cook,  Bos- 
ton, 1890.  Stedman :  Victorian  Poets,  Boston,  1891 ;  The  Na- 
ture and  El.  of  Poetry,  do.,  1893.  Stephen:  Hrs.  in  a  Lib., 
3  vols.,  London,  1874 ;  Lives  of  Pope,  Johnson,  and  Swift  in 
Morley  Series,  Harpers,  New  York.  Stephenson :  Familiar 
Studies  of  Men  and  Books,  New  York,  1895.  Swift:  Scott, 
19  vols..  London,  1883.  Swinburne:  Works,  London,  1875-89. 
J.  A.  Symonds :  Es.,  Spec,  and  Suggestive,  London,  1893. 

T.  Thackeray:  2  vols.,  Harper's  Half  Hour  Series,  New  York. 

W.  Walton:  Lives,  London,  1888.  J.  Warton:  Essay  on  Pope, 
2  vols.,  London,  1806.  T.  Warton:  Hist,  of  Eng.  Poetry,  Ward, 
etc.,  London,  Reprint  of  1778-81.  Webbe :  Arber  Reprints, 
Birmingham,  1870.  Whetstone:  Shakespeare  Library,  Yol.  VI., 
London,  1875.  Whipple :  Works,  Boston,  1891.  J.  Wilsonj 
Essays,  Critical  and  Imaginative,  Blackwood  &  Sons,  London  and 
Edinburgh.  T.  Wilson :  The  Arto  of  Rhetorique,  Printed  by  R. 
Grafton,  1553.  Wordsworth:  Prose,  Grosart,  3  vols.,  London, 
1876. 


A    HISTORY 

OF 

ENGLISH    CRITICAL    TERMS. 


Ability,  Group  V.  b\  Jeff.,  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Wilson's  drama   (1690)  was   full  of  ability.       GOSSE,  Hist,   of 

Eng.,  Lit.,  p.  40. 
Abortive  (V.)£:  Dramatic   abortions  .  .  .  misbegotten  by  dullness 

upon  vauity  (of  Byron).     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  81. 
Abrupt  (XIII.) :  Harvey  to  present. 

May  be  a  praiseworthy  quality  of   composition,  but 
usually  is  not  so. 

Samson  Agonistes  opens  with  a  graceful  abruptness.     S.  JOHNSON, 

Vol.  III.  p.  158. 

Let  there  be  nothing  harsh  or  abrupt  in  the  conclusion  of  the 
sentence  on  which  the  mind  pauses  and  rests.     BLAIR,  Khet., 
p.  140.     (Quoted  from  Quintilian.) 
Absolute  (XXII)  a:  Swinburne,  Studies,  p.  165. 
Abstract,  Abstracted  (VIII.):  Jef.  to  present. 

Keats'  poetry  is  ...  too  dreamy  and  abstracted  to  excite  the 

strongest  interest.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  376. 
In  Rossetti  ...  a  forced  arid  almost  grotesque  materializing  of 

abstractions.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  232. 

Abstinent  (XIX.):  Purity  and  abstinence   of  style  (Wordsworth), 
LOWELL,  Prose  IV.,  p.  415. 

3 


34      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Abstruse  (III.)  :   Minto  to   present.     Gosse,  From   Shakespeare  to 

Pope,  p.  125. 
Absurd  (XX.)  :  Sidney  to  present  ;  in  considerable  use. 

The  absurd  naivety  of  Sancho  Pancho.     D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  240. 
This  extravagant  and  absurd  diction.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  103. 
Abundance  (XI.)  b  :  Dekker  to  present. 

Chaste  abundance  ...  of  Goethe.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  230. 
The  stately  and  gorgeous  abundance  of  the  vocabulary  with  which 
the  Hellenizing  and  Latinizing  innovations  of  the  Pleiade  en- 
riched the   French    language.       SAINTSBURY,    Hist.   Fr.   Lit., 
p.  211. 
Academic  (XX.):  The  Idylls  of  the  King  .  .  .  are  a  little  too  aca- 

demic.    BROOKE,  Tennyson,  p.  268. 

Blending  of  the  academic  and  classical  manner  with  the  romantic 
and  discursive  (of  Hooker).      SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II., 
p.  44. 
Accomplished  (V.)  b:  Rossetti  to  present. 

Accomplished  and  dextrous  rhythm  ...  of  Swin.     SAINTSBURY, 

Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  394. 
ACCURATE  (VIII.)  :  B.  Jonson  to  present;  in  considerable  use. 

Previous  to  the  present  century,  the  term  "  accurate  " 
AS  exactness  lisiia^y  referred  to  the  language  of  a  com- 
of  expression.  pOSjti0n,  indicating  a  careful  choice  of  words 
and  exactness  of  method  in  their  arrangement. 

Our  composition  must  be  more  accurate  in  the  beginning  and  end 
than  in  the  midst,  and  in  the  end  more  than  in  the  beginning. 
B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  62. 

No  matter  how  slow  the  style  be  at  first,  so  it  be  laboured  and 
accurate.  ID.,  p.  54. 

Accuracy  is  seen  in  the  expression.     DRYDEN,  XII.,  p.  284. 

During  the  present  century,  the  term  has  almost 
AS  truthful-  uniformly  represented  a  faithful  and  per- 


nesstofact.     jiapg  Bailed  description  of  actual  facts  and 
events. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      35 

Truth  and  accuracy.     HAZLITT,  El.  Lit.,  p.  7. 
The  accuracy  011  which  Pope  prided  himself  .  .  .  was  not  accu- 
racy  of  thought   so  much   as  of  expression.      LOWELL,   IV., 
p.  37. 
A  figure  may  be  ideal  and  yet  accurate.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  and  St., 

p.  220. 
Scientifically   accurate   in   his   statement  of  the  fact.     DOWDEN, 

Shak.,  etc.,  p.  247. 
Acerbity  (XIV.):  Cole.,  Macaulay. 
Acrimony  (XIV.)  :  Jeffrey. 
ACTION  (XVIII.):  Whetstone  to  present. 

The  word  "  action,"   though  occurring  frequently   in 
criticism,  has  very  seldom  been  employed  as  an  actual 
critical  term.     Until  the  middle  of  the  eigh-  As  E  . 
teenth  century,  the  term  usually  referred  to  movement- 
historic  deeds,  to_external  events,  to  heroic  adventures, 
celebrated  chiefly  injfpng  and  in  Epic  story. 

What  .  .  .  the  poet  .  .  .  imitates  is  action.     ARISTOTLE,  Poet., 

p.  31. 
In  the  Iliad,  which  was  written  when  Homer's  genius  was  in  its 

prime,  the  mhole  structure  of  the  poem  is  founded  on  action  and 

.struggle.     LONGINUS,  pp.  20,  21. 
The  Epic  asks  a  magnitude  from  other  poems,  since  what  is  place 

in    the    one    is    action    in    the    other.      B.    JONSON,   Timber, 

p.  83. 
The  spectators  are  always  pleased  to  see  action,  and  are  not  often 

so  ill-natured  to  pry  into  and  examine  whether  it  be  proper. 

RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  3. 

The  relations  between  action  and  passion  were  always 
regarded  as  being  very  intimate.     During  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  this  intimacy  of  As  Dramatic 
relation  became   greatly  increased.       By  the  movement- 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  action  had   become 


r^V**"~^ti2^ 
OF  THE     *     \ 
UNIVERSITY  I 


36     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

subordinated  to  passion,  or  at  most  action  was  made 
to  represent  more  or  less  directly  the  flow  of  mental 
imagery,  the  sequence  of  thought,  the  suspense,  the 
emotion  aroused  bjf.the  description  of  an  event,  rather 
than  the  mere  event  itself,  considered  as  an  external 
movement,  a  fact  of  history. 

Whence  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  action,  having  an  essential  dig- 
nity, is  always  interesting,  and  by  the  simplest  management  of 
the  poet  becomes  in  a  supreme  degree  pathetic.     HURD,  II. 
p.  34. 
Cato  wants  action  and  pathos,  the  two  hinges  on  which  a  just 

tragedy  ought  to  turn.     J.  WARTON,  p.  257- 
The  feeling  ...  in  Lyrical  Ballads  .  .  .  gives  importance  to  the 
aghqn  and  situation,  and  not  the  action  and  situation  to  the 
feeling.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  183. 
I  Action  .  .  .  the  eternal  object  of  poetry.     M.  ARNOLD,  Mix.  Es.. 

p.  489,  etc. 

Actual  (VIII.)  :  Swinburne. 
Acute :  (XX.)  b  ;  Milton  to  present. 

Acuteness  of  remark,  or   depth  of  reflection.     MILTON,  III.  p. 

498. 
Acumen  (XX.)  b\    Acumen  of  thought.      T.   ARNOLD,  Man.,   etc., 

p.  459. 
Adapted  (IV.)  :  S.  Johnson  to  present. 

Thoughts  and  words  elegantly  adapted  to  the  subject.     DRYDEN, 

V.,  p.  124. 
Admirable    (XXII.)  a\    Jef.,    Swin.     Dowden,   Trans.    &    St.,   p. 

229 

Adolescent  (XV.) :  The  beauty  ...  of  Keats'  poems  .  .  .  have 
an  adolescent  and  frequently  a  morbid  tone.  R.OSSETTI,  Life  and 
Letters,  p.  208. 

Adorable  (XXII.)  a :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  pp.  46,  221,  etc. 
ADORNED  (V.):  Webbe  to  present.     Ornamented;  colored. 

The  term  refers  to  the  result  rather  than  to  the  pro- 
cess of   ornamentation.      The  result   may   be   brought 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      37 

about   either    by    elaborate   design   or   by   spontaneous 
processes. 

The  great  art  of  poets  is  ...  the  adorning  and  beautifying  of 

truth.     DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  408. 

The  object  of  the  poetry  of  the  imagination  is  to  raise  or  adorn 
one  idea  by  another  more  striking  or  more  beautiful.     HAZLITT, 
Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  64. 
Adroit  (V.)  b :  Hallam  to  present. 

Adroitly  extravagant.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  69. 
Adventurous  (XIX.)  :  Hazlitt  to  present. 

Romantic  and  adventurous  incidents.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib., 

pp.  56,  57. 
Aerial  (XXII.)  b :    Pure,  lucid,  aerial.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p. 

139. 

-ESTHETIC  (XXII.)  b :  Much  used,  but  almost  wholly  in  theory. 
The  writings  of  the   "romantic  school,"   of  which   the   aesthetic 
poetry  is  an  afterthought  .  .  .  mark  a  transition  from  a  lower 
to   a  higher  degree   of    passion  in  literature.      PATER,   Ap., 
p.  214. 
AFFECTATION  (VII.)  :  AFFECTED  :  T.  Wilson  to  present. 

Much  in  use,  but  has  not,  perhaps,  changed  its  mean- 
ing. In  theory,  it  indicates  the  assumption  on  the 
part  of  the  author  of  a  style  or  method  of  expression 
which  is  unnatural,  not  spontaneous.  As  actually  ap- 
plied to  literature,  it  indicates  a  style  or  method  of 
expression  which  offends  the  taste  of  the  critic.  In 
early  English  criticism,  the  diction  and  language  em- 
ployed gave  most  offence ;  later,  the  general  tone  and 
spirit  of  the  composition. 

Spenser,  in  affecting  the  ancients,  writ  no  language.  B.  JONSON, 
Timber,  p.  57. 

Shakespeare's  whole  style  is  so  pestered  with  figurative  expres- 
sions, that  it  is  as  affected  as  it  is  obscure.  DRYDEN,  VI., 
p.  255. 


38      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Wordsworth  ...  is  affected.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  523. 

The  essence  of  affectation  is  that  it  be  assumed;  the  character 
is,  as  -it  were,  forcibly  crushed  into  some  foreign  mould,  in  the 
hope  of  being  thereby  reshaped  and  beautified.  CARLYLE,  I., 

P.  11. 

Longfellow  oftener  runs  into  affectation  through  his  endeavors  at 

simplicity  than  through  any  other  cause.     POK,  II.,  p.  xviii. 
Affecting   (XVII.):    Jef.    to    present.        1st.    As    the    "affected." 

2d.   As  the  touching,  pathetic. 
Affinity  (XXII.)  &:  Hazlitt,  Shak.,  p.  ?. 
Affluent  (XT.)  b\  Whip,  to  present. 

Those  poems  .  .  .  which  are  apparently  the  most  affluent  of  im- 
agery, are  not  always  those  which  most  kindle  the   reader's 
imagination.     BRYANT,  Prose,  I.,  p.  9. 
Aggressive  (XII.),  cf.  (XIV.) :  Ros.     M.  Arnold,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S., 

p.  66. 
Agreeable  (XXII.)  b :   Most  pathetic  and  most  interesting,  and  by 

consequence  the  most  agreeable.     D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  264. 
Airy  (XXII.)  b :  S.  Johnson  to  present. 

Airy,  rapid,  picturesque.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  46. 

Airiness  of  fancy.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  267- 

Airy  and  pretty.     T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  etc.,  p.  272. 
Alacrity  (V.)£:    An  alacrity  of  language.      LOWELL,   Prose,  IV., 

p.  304. 
Alembicated :  Inequality  and  alembicated  character  of  the  poetry  in 

vogue.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.  to  Pope,  p.  33. 
ALLEGORIC  (XXI.). 

Primarily  a  classifying  term.  Symbolism  of  moral 
traits  by  means  of  fables.  More  in  favor  in  early  Eng- 
lish criticism  than  at  present. 

A  continuous  allegory   or  dark   conceit.     SPENSER,  Introduction 

to  Faery  Queen. 
Poetry,  composed  of  allegory,  fables,  and  imitations,  does  not  deal 

in  falsehoods.      1591.      HARRINGTON,  in  Haslewood's  Arte  of 

Poetry,  p.  127- 
Stale  allegorical  imagery.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  104. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      39 

Alliterative  (X.)  :  Hallam  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  265. 
Allusive  (XVI.)  :  Saints,  to  present. 

Three  kinds  of  poetry:  Narrative;  Representative;  Allusive,— 
to  express  some  special  purpose  or  conceit.  BACON,  IV., 
p.  402. 

Fertility  of  allusion  ...  in  Butler.     BRYANT,  I.,  p.  49. 
Dryden  .  .  .  taught  the  poets  to  be  explicit  where  they  had  been 

vexatiously  allusive.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  26. 
Ambiguous  (III.)  :  T.  Wilson  to  present.     Puttenham,  p.  267. 
Ambitious  (XII.)  :  Dryden  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  229. 
Ambling  (X.)  :  Hazlitt  to  present. 

Graceful  ambling  ...  of  Addison.     WHIPPLE,   Es.   &   Reviews, 

p.  60. 

Amenity  (XIV.)  :  Blair.    Gosse,  Hist,  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  19. 
Amorphous   (II.)  :    Sidney's  Arcadia   is   dreadfully  amorphous  and 

invertebrate.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.  etc.,  p.  22. 
Ample  (XI.)  b:  B.  Jonson  to  present.     Swin.,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  69. 
Amplification,  Amplified  (XIX.)  c :  T.  Wilson  to  present. 

Used  for  the  most  part  previous  to  the  present  century. 

Amplifying  and  beautifying.     T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  25 < 
Amplitude  (XI.)  b  :  Landor  to  present. 

Sonorous  amplitude  of  Milton's  style.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  84. 
Amusing  (XVII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

More   amusing   than   accountable.       HUNT,    Wit  and   Humour, 

p.  10. 
Anachronism  (IV.),  cf.  (VIII.)  :  J.  Warton  to  present.    J.  Warton, 

II.,  p.  10. 
ANALYTIC  (XX.)  b  :  Stedman  to  present. 

Analysis  as  such,  the  mere  tendency  to  discriminate 
and  to  separate  anything  into  its  elements,  has  never 
been  regarded  with  much  favor  in  criticism.  To  pos- 
sess literary  value,  analysis  must  in  some  manner  be 
combined  with  synthesis. 

Wit  is  negative,  analytical,  destructive;  Humor  is  creative. 
WHIPPLE,  Lit.  &  Life,  p.  91. 


40      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Possessing  a  sense  of  proportion,   based  upon  the  highest  ana- 
lytic and  synthetic  powers.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,,  p.  199. 
Scott  was  often  tediously  analytic  where  the  modern  novelist  is 

dramatic.  Ho  WELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  21. 
Aniline  (V.)  :  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Pr.  Style,  p.  xvii. 
Animated  (XII.)  :  Mil.,  J.  Warton  to  present.  Much  in  use. 

An  infinite  variety  of  tropes,  or  turns  of  expression  .  .  .  which 

serve  to  animate  the  whole.     GOLDSMITH,  L,  p.  357. 
The  animation,  fire,  and  rapidity  which  Homer  throws  into  his 

battles.     BLAIR,  llhet.,  p.  40. 
Anticlimax  (XII.)  :  Stephen  to  present. 

The  Lotus   Eaters  .  .  .  closes  in  a  feeble  anticlimax.     BKOOKE, 

Ten.,  p.  124. 

Antiphonal  (X.) :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  200. 
Antiquated  (IV.)  :  Goldsmith  to  present. 

Antiquated  and  colloquial.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  416. 
Antithetical  (II.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

Snapping  antitheses  of  Macaulay.     SAINTS.,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxi. 
Appropriate  (IV.)  :  Collier  to  present.     POE,  II.,  p.  163. 
Apt  (IV.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

The  unaptness  of  our  tongues  and  the  difficulty  of  imitation  dis- 
heartens us.  CA'MPION,  p.  233. 

Not  only  what  is  great,  strange,  or  beautiful,  but  anything  that  is 
disagreeable,  when  looked  upon,  pleases  us  in  an  apt  description. 
ADDISON,  III.,  p.  418. 
Arabesque  (II.)  :  Byron  to  present. 

llichter's  manner  of  writing  is  singular ;  nay,  in  fact,  a  wild  com- 
plicated arabesque.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  16. 
Archaic,  Archaisms  (I.)  :  Landor  to  present. 

Antiquated  expressions,  which,  from  a  certain  unex- 
pectedness and  quaintness,  may  possess  literary  merit, 

A  grave  and  sparkling  admixture  of  archaisms  in  the  ornaments 
and  occasional  phraseology  ...  of  Southey's  prose.  HAZLITT, 
Sp.  of  Age,  p.  145. 

A  permissible  archaism  is  a  word  or  phrase  that  has  been  sup^-, 
planted  by  something  less  apt,  but  has  not  become  unintelli- 
gibly. LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  2i7. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      41 

The  natural  effect  of  archaisms  on  pathetic  passages  is  to  make 
them   sweeter  and   simpler,  by  making  them   more   childlike. 
MINTO,  Char,  of  Eng.  Poets,  p.  26. 
Architectonics  (XXIII.)  :  M.  Arnold. 
Archness  (XVII.)  :  Campbell  to  present. 
Arctic  (XV.) :  Hunt. 
Ardent  (XV.)  :  Scott  to  present. 
Ardour  (XV.) :   Masculine   ardour  ...  of  Milton.     DOWDEN,  Tr. 

&  St.,  p.  270. 
Arid  (XVI.)  :  Hallam. 
ART  (XXII.)  b. 

The  history  of  the  term  "  art "  is  to  be  connected 
with  that  of  the  term  "artistic,"  —  the  two  together 
representing  the  development  of  a  single  critical  prin- 
ciple. The  term  "  art "  was  chiefly  used  previous  to 
the  present  century,  "  artistic "  during  this  century. 
"  Art "  as  a  critical  term  has  almost  invariably  been 
placed  in  antithesis  to  "nature,"  and  hence  its  mean- 
ing is  in  large  part  determined  by  the  use  of  the  term 
to  which  it  has  been  opposed.  It  has  perhaps  been 
used  in  two  slightly  different  ways. 

When  "nature"  represented  subjective  impulses  and 
instincts,  the  term  did  not  indicate  the  entire  mental 
process  which  takes  place  in  the  production  Asdevice 
of   literature.     "Art"    denoted    whatever   in  and  design' 
the  composition  results  from  skill,  from  conscious  de- 
vice and  design,  from   the   employment  of   rules   and 
method. 

If  a  thing  admits  of  being  brought  into  being  without  art  or  prep- 
aration, a  fortiori,  it  will  admit  of  it  by  the  help  of  art  and 
attention.  ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  p.  163. 

In_Sallust's  writing  is  more  art  than  nature,  and  more  labor  than 
art.  15G8.  ASCIJAM,  III.,  p.  264.  ~~ " 


r 


42      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  courtier  following  that  which  by  practice  he  findeth  fittest  to 

nature,  therein  though  he  know  it  not,  doth  according  to  art, 

though  not  by  art.     1583.     SIDNEY,  p.  54. 
Art  is  only  a  help  and  remembrance  to  nature.    1585.     K.  JAMES, 

p.  66. 

Nature  engendereth,  art  fraraeth.     1593.     HARVEY,  I.,  p.  263. 
Art,  when  it  is  once  m at u red- to. -habit,  vanishes  from  observation. 
"175 1      S.  JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  80. 
Some  had  the  art  without  the  power;  others  had  flashes  of  the 

power  without  the  art.     SAINTSBUKY,  Hist.  E.  L.,  p.  53. 


When  "  nature "  was  regarded  as  external  and  ob- 
jective,   "art"    indicated     the    whole     mental    process 
necessary  for  giving  to  this  external  nature 

skin,  and        a   literary  representation.      "Art"   thus  in- 
power. 

eluded  not  only  skill  and  design,  but  also 
in  a  vague  way  the  more  primal  and  instinctive  literary 
activities  of  the  mind. 

Art  and  nature  compared  (summary). 

1.  Art  an  exact  imitator  of  nature,  c.  g.  Painting. 

2.  Art  covers  defects  of  nature. 

3.  Art  heightens  the  beauties  of  nature. 

4.  Art  develops  forms  wholly  beyond  nature.     1585. 

PUTTENIIAM,  pp.  308-312. 

We  should  be  admiring  some  glorious  representation  of  nature, 
and  are  stopped  on  a  sudden  to  observe  the  writer's  art.     1751. 
HURD,  I.,  p.  36i. 
Artful  (V.)  b\  Dryden  to  present. 

That  which  in  composition  gives  evidence  of  con- 
scious design  and  device.  In  better  repute  during  the 
eighteenth  century  than  during  the  present  century. 

The  plot  ...  of  Measure  for  Measure  ...  is   rather  intricate 

than  artful.     S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  158. 
Artful  but  not  artistic.     WHIPPLE,  Age  of  EL,  p.  118. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     43 

Artifice  (V.)  :  Hume  to  present.  Device  for  producing  artful  effects. 
The  simple  manner  .  .  .  conceals  the  artifice  as  much  as  possible ; 
endeavoring  only  to  express  the  effect  of  art,  under  the  appear- 
ance of  the  greatest  ease  and  negligence.  SHAFTESBUIIY,  I.,  p. 
202. 

Artificial  (VII.)  :  Ascham  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

I.  Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  "  artificial "  occasionally  represented  the  "  artful." 

In  Gorboduc  .  .  .  there  is  both  many  days  and  many  places  inar- 
tificially  imagined.     SIDNEY,  p.  48. 

II.  Usually  the   term  indicates  the   unnatural,  that 
which  is  at  once  artful  and  labored. 

Those  artificial  assemblages  of  pleasing  objects,  which  are  not  to 

be  found  in  nature.     J.  WAB.TON,  I.,  pp.  3,  4. 
ARTISTIC  (XXII.)  b.     (See  ART.) 

The  term  "  artistic "  represents  a  blending  of  the 
old  antithesis  between  art  and  nature  into  an  aesthetic 
unity,  - —  a  unity  which  refers  not  only  to  the  active 
process  of  composing,  but  also  to  the  effect  of  the 
composition  on  the  mind  of  the  reader.  As  denoting 
the  active  process  of  composing,  the  artistic  necessi- 
tates the  exercise  both  of  acquired  skill  and  of  the 
spontaneous  powers  of  the  mind,  —  of  feeling,  of  pas- 
sion, of  imagination.  As  referring  to  the  appreciation 
of  literature,  the  artistic  includes  both  cultivated  taste 
and  native  sensibility.  The  artistic  represents  such  a 
refinement  of  the  crude  facts  and  materials  of  litera- 
ture as  to  give  no  offence  to  the  most  cultivated  taste, 
and  at  the  same  time  such  an  accurate  and  vivid  por- 
trayal of  these  facts  as  to  stimulate  the  most  healthful 


44      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

and  vigorous  imagination.  The  term  is  thus  a  com- 
plete expression  at  any  given  time  for  the  progressive 
aBsthetic  sense  which  accompanies  literary  development. 

If  by  saying  that  a  poem  is  artistical  we  mean  that  its  form  cor- 
responds with  its  spirit,  that  it  is  fashioned  into  the  likeness  of 
the  thought  or  emotion  it  is  intended  to  convey,  then  "The 
Buccaneer"  and  " Thanatopsis "  are  as  artistical  as  the  "Voices 
of  the  Night."  .  .  .  The  best  artist  is  he  who  accommodates  his 
diction  to  his  subject,  and  in  this  sense  Longfellow  is  an  artist. 
1844.  WHIPPLE,  Es.  and  Reviews,  p.  59. 

Artful  but  not  artistic.     1859.     WHIP.,  Lit,  of  Age  of  E.,  p.  108. 

Nothing  but  the  highest  artistic  sense  can  prevent  humor  from 
degenerating  into  the  grotesque.  1866.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  90. 

In  works  of  art  or  pure  literature,  the  style  is  even  more  impor- 
tant than  the  thought,  for  the  reason  that  the  style  is  the  artis- 
tic part,  the  only  thing  in  which  the  writer  can  show  originality. 
MATHEWS,  Lit.  St.,  p.  9. 

And  when  one's  curiosity  is  in  excess,  when  it  overbalances  the 
desire  of  beauty,  then  one  is  liable  to  value  in  works  of  art 
what  is  inartistic  in  them.  1886.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  248. 

Some  sonnets  of  Mrs.  Browning  lack  that  fine  artistic  self-control, 
the  highest  obedience  to  the  law  of  beauty,  which  should  be  as 
stringent  as  the  self-control  of  asceticism,  and  is  so  much  more 
fruitful.  1887.  DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  229. 

That  fine  effluence  of  the  whole  artistic  nature  which  can  hardly 
be  analyzed  and  which  we  term  style.      DOWDEN,  St.  in  L., 
p.  192. 
Artless  (VII.)  :  Campbell  to  present. 

The  term  artlessness  may  be  applied  to  Heywood  in  two  very  op- 
posite senses :   as  truth  to  life  and  natural  feeling ;  as  being 
without  art.     CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  219. 
Asiatic  (XIX.)  :  Milton  to  present. 

The  exuberant  richness  of  Asiatic  phraseology.  MILTON,  III., 
p.  204. 

A  feeble,  diffuse,  showy,  Asiatic  redundancy.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  A., 

p.  204. 
Assonant  (X.) :  Assonant,  harmonious.    STEDMAN,  Yic.  Poets,  p.  46. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      45 

Attractive    (XXII.)  b\    Wordsworth   to   present.      Mathews,   Lit. 
Studies,  p.  29. 

Audacity  (XII.)  :  Ruskin  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  86. 

August  (XI.)  :  Milton  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 

Austere  (XV.)  :  Hume  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  142. 

Authentic  :  (VIII.)  ;  Authentic,  honest,  and  direct  terms.    JEFFREY, 
I.,  p.  211. 

Autumnal:  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  178. 

Awkward  (XIX.)  :  Dryden  to  present. 

Simplicity  may  be  rustic  and  awkward,  of  which  there  are  innu- 
merable examples  in  Wordsworth's  volumes.  LANDOR,  IV., 
p.  61. 

Babyish  (XI.)  :  Babyish  interjections.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  175. 

Balance  (II.)  :  T.  Newton  to  present. 

Equipoise  of  phrase,  thought,  and  feeling. 

Precise  balance.     T.  NEWTON,  Spen.  Society,  vol.  43,  p.  2. 
I  would  trace  the  origin  of  meter  to  the  balance  in  the  mind 
effected  by  that   spontaneous  effort  which  strives  to   hold  in 
check  the  workings  of  passion.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  415. 
The  imagination  .  .  .  the  faculty  that  shapes,  gives  unity  of  de- 
sign, and  balanced  gravitation  of  parts.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  30. 
The  needful  qualities  for  a  fit  prose  are  regularity,  uniformity,  pre- 
cision, balance. 

Tennyson's  poetry  exhibits  a  well-balanced  moral  nature.     DOW- 
DEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  113. 
Bald  (XVI.),  cf.  (V.)  :  Milton  to  present. 

Wordsworth  ...  a   baldness   which   is   full   of  grandeur.      M. 

ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  159. 
Locke's  style  ...  is  bald,  dull,  plebeian.     SAINTS.,  Eng.  Pr.  St., 

p.  xxiv. 
Balderdash  (XXII.)  b :  Frantic  balderdash.     SAINTS.,  Hist.  Er.  Lit., 

p.  25. 
Barbarism  (I.)  :  Webbe  to  present. 

The  craving  for  instant  effect  in  style  .  .  .  brings  forward  many 
disgusting  Germanisms  and  other  barbarisms.     DE  QUINCEY, 
XL,  p.  422. 
Barbarous  (IV.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

That  which  very  much  offends  taste  and  propriety. 


46      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Barbarity  and  Gotkicism.     SHAETESBUIIY,  I.,  p.  174. 

We  are  apt  to  call  barbarous  whatever  departs  widely  from  our 

own  taste  and  apprehension.     HUME,  I.,  p.  266. 
A  tasteless  and  barbarous  turn  of  phrase,  in  which  all  feeling  of 
propriety  and  elegance  was  lost.      HALLAM,   Lit.   Hist.,   11., 
p.  23. 

Bare  (V.)  :  Scott  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  126. 
Barren  (XVI.)  :  Puttenham  to  present. 

The  remedy  for  exuberance  is  easy ;  barrenness  is  incurable  by  any 

labor.     QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  106. 

Dry,  hard,  and  barren  of  effect.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  207. 
Barytone  (X.)  :  M.  Arnold. 

Virile  barytone  quality.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,  III. 
Base  (V.) :  Ascham,  Puttenham. 

Thus  rudely  turned  into  base  English.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  197. 
Bastard  (VII.)  :  M.  Arnold  to  present. 

Bastard  Epic  style  ...  of  Scott.     M.  ARNOLD,  Celtic  Lit.,  etc., 

p.  195. 
Bathos  (XI.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

Mistaking  vulgarity  for  simplicity,  turned  into  bathos  what  they 

found  sublime.     CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  49. 

Bawdry    (XIV.)  :    Burlesque   or  bawdry  ...  of  Breton.      SAINTS- 
BURY,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  239. 
BEAUTY  (XXII.)  6. 

The  history  of  the  term  "beauty"   may  be  divided 

into  three  general  periods.     Previous  to  the  eighteenth 

century,  the  beautiful  was  uniformly  regarded 

As  ornamen-  ii_      r  7  • 

tation  and       as  a  result  or  a  certain  rearranging  and  pol- 

artifice. 

ishing  of  a  truth  that  was  thought  to  be 
external  and  unchangeable.  This  rearranging  and 
polishing  was  attained  by  conscious  ingenuity.  Hence 
the  conception  of  the  beautiful  in  early  criticism  is 
usually  expressed  by  means  of  an  active  verb,  which 
designates  the  skill  of  the  author  in  manipulating  his 
material.  The  beautiful  thus,  for  the  most  part  at 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     47 

least,  was  capable  of  being  reduced  to  rule  and  method. 
It  was  a  product  of  invention,  and  was  copied  or  imi- 
tated from  author  to  author. 


^3  Beauty  lies  in  Compaq  ^  pr^W.     ARISTOTLE,  Poetics,  p.  25. 

Amplifying  and  beautifying.     1553.     TH.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  25. 
^  Only  man  and  no  beast  hath  that  gift  to  discern  beauty.     1583. 

SIDNEY,  Poet.,  p.  37. 

Figures  which  beautify  language.     1585.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  206. 
Beautify  the  same  with  brave  devices.     1586.     WEBBE,  p.  36. 
Periods  are  beautiful  when  they  are  not  too  long.     (Pub.)  1641. 

B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  62. 
If  the  parts  are  managed  so  regularly,  that  the  beauty  of  the  whole 

be  kept  entire.     1668.     DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  335. 
His  genius  is  able   to   make   beautiful  what  he  pleases.     1674. 

DRYDEN,  V.,  p.  112. 
"y?  It  is  better  to  trespass  on  a  rule  than  leave  out  a  beauty.     1692. 

DRYDEN,  VIII.,  p.  221. 
Persius  borrows  most  of  his  beauties  from  Horace.     1693.     DRY- 

DEN, XIII.,  p.  73. 

^   The  least  proportion  or  beauty  of  tragedy.     1678.     RYMER,  1st 
Pt,  p.  41. 

During   the    eighteenth    century,   the    beautiful   was 
regarded   not   so   much  as  something  which    could  be 
consciously  constructed  as  something  which  As  the 
was  merely  to  be   apprehended.     The  beau- 


tiful  was  apprehended  by  means  of  taste  or 
"delicacy  of  imagination."  Both  taste  and  the  sense 
of  the  beautiful  varied  with  increasing  knowledge  (see 
Taste).  In  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  when  taste 
came  to  be  founded  more  on  sensibility  and  less  on 
culture,  the  beautiful  likewise  was  thought  to  have 
less  intimate  relations  with  proportion  and  the  under- 
standing than  with  the  more  spontaneous  activities  of 


48      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

the  mind.  But  whether  associated  with  understanding 
or  with  feeling,  the  final  test  of  the  beautiful  was  the 
amount  of  immediate  pleasure  that  was  produced  in 
the  mind  of  the  reader.  The  critics  usually  found 
this  greatest  pleasure  in  the  "  proprieties,"  occasion- 
ally, however,  in  an  impropriety. 

Any  writer  who  shall  treat  on  this  subject  after  me  may  find  sev- 
eral beauties  in  Milton  which  I  have  not  taken  notice  of.  1711. 
ADDISON,  III.,  pp.  223-24. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  how  some  passages  are  beautiful  by 
being  sublime ,  others  by  being  soft ;  others  by  being  natural. 
1711.  ID.  p.  283. 

It  is  impossible  to  continue  in  the  practice  of  contemplating  any 
order  of  beauty,  without  being  frequently  obliged  to  form  com- 
parisons between  the  several  species  and  degrees  of  excellence, 
and  estimating  their  proportions  to  each  other.  1742.  HUME, 
I.,  p.  275. 

It  seldom  or  never  happens  that  a  man  of  sense,  who  has  experi- 
ence in  any  art,  cannot  judge  of  its  beauty.  1742.  ID.,  I., 
p.  278. 

It  is  in  many  cases  apparent  that  beauty  is  merely  relative  .  .  . 
that  we  transfer  the  epithet  as  our  knowledge  increases,  and 
appropriate  it  to  higher  excellence,  when  higher  excellence  comes 
within  our  view.  1751.  S.  JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  431. 

It  has  been  the  lot  of  many  great  names  not  to  have  been  able  to 
express  themselves  with  beauty  and  propriety  in  the  fetters  of 
verse.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  pp.  265-60. 

The  qualities  of  beauty  are  all  sensible  qualities :  I.  Small. 
II.  Smooth.  III.  Variety  in  the  direction  of  the  parts. 

IV.  Parts  not  angular  but  melted  as  it  were  into  each  other. 

V.  Delicate    frame    without    any    remarkable    appearance    of 
strength.     VI.  Colors  clear  and  bright  but  not  strong  or  glar- 
ing.    VII.  If    any  glaring   color   to   have   it  diversified   with 
others.     1756.     BURKE,  I.,  p.  136. 

Proportion  is  a  creature  of  the  understanding  .  .  .  but  beauty 
demands  no  assistance  from  our  reasoning.  1756.  ID.,  p.  114. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     49 

What  is  false  taste  but  a  want  of  perception  to  discern  propriety 
and  distinguish  beauty  ?     1761.     GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  324. 
r  the  sake  of  showing  how  beautiful  even  improprieties  may  be- 
come in  the  hands  of  a  good  writer.     S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  263. 

During  the  present  century,  in  so  far  as  the  beautiful 
has  been  founded  upon  taste,  taste  itself  has  been  sup- 
p  o  s  ed  Jbo  c  on  si  s  t  chiefly  of  native  sensibility.  As 
This  makes  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  tend  feelin£- 
to  pass  over  from  an  appreciation  of  many  beauties 
by  means  of  taste,  to  the  appreciation  of  a  single  beauty 
by  means  of  certain  fundamental  and  progressive  forms 
of  feeling.  These  forms  of  feeling,  whether  designated 
as  imaginative  or  as  the  "  artistic  sense,"  are,  as  it 
were,  the  connecting  link  between  pure  aesthetic  feel- 
ing and  the  more  active  artistic  processes  which  give 
expression  to  this  aesthetic  feeling.  The  beautiful  is 
thus  the  most  full  and  direct  expression  possible  for 
feeling.  The  progressive  nature  of  this 


aesthetic  feeling  itself,  however,  as  evidenced  in  mod- 
ern realism,  keeps  the  question  continually  open  as 
to  whether  or  not  the  sense  of  the  beautiful  and  the 
limits  of  literary  art  are  at  any  given  time  exactly 
coextensive  and  identical  with  each  other. 

Greek  art  is  beautiful  .  .  .  but  Gothic  art  is  sublime.  1810. 
COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  235. 

No  great  work  should  have  many  beauties:  if  it  were  perfect,  it 
would  have  but  one  ;  .  .  .  that  but  faintly  perceptible,  except 
on  a  view  of  the  whole.  1817.  JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  472. 

What  the  imagination  seizes  as  beauty  must  be  truth,  —  whether 
it  existed  before  or  not,  —  for  I  have  the  same  idea  of  all  our 
passions  as  of  love  :  they  are  all,  in  their  sublime,  creative  of 
essential  beauty.     1817-     KEATS,  Letters,  pp.  41,  42. 
4 


50     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS, 

It  may  be  interesting  to  you  to  pick  out  some  lines  from  Hype- 
rion, and  put  a  mark  X  to  the  false  beauty  proceeding  from  art, 
and  an  ||  to  the  true  voice  of  feeling.  1819.  ID  ,  p.  321. 

The  ideal  is  that  which  answers  to  the  preconceived,  and  appetite 
in  the  mind  for  love  and  beauty.  1819.  HAZLITT,  Table  Talk, 
p.  448. 

Poetic  beauty  in  its  pure  essence  ...  is  not  derived  from  any- 
thing external,  or  of  merely  intellectual  origin ;  not  from  associ- 
ation .  .  .  nor  from  imitation,  of  similarity  in  dissimilarity,  of 
excitement  by  contrast,  or  of  seeing  difficulties  overcome.  Un- 
derived  from  these  it  gives  to  them  their  principal  charm.  It 
dwells  and  is  born  in  the  inmost  spirit  of  man.  .  .  .  1827. 
CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  4-7. 

Fiction  has  no  business  to  exist  unless  it  is  more  beautiful  than 
reality.  Certainly  the  monstrosities  of  fiction  may  be  found  in 
the  bookseller's  shops  .  .  .  but  they  have  no  place  in  literature, 
because  in  literature  the  one  aim  of  art  is  the  beautiful.  Quoted 
from  Joubert.  M.  AUNOLD,  Cr.  Es.  1st  S.,  p.  292. 

Pope  had  a  sense  of  the  neat  rather  than  of  the  beautiful.  LOW- 
ELL, Prose  Works,  IV.,  p.  48. 

The  world  of  the  imagination  is  not  the  world  of  abstraction  and 

nonentity,  as  some  conceive,  but  a  world  formed  out  of  chaos  by 

a  sense  of  the  beauty  that  is  in  man  and  the  earth  on  which  he 

dwells.     1885.     ID.,"  VI,  p.  94. 

.\    And  further,  all  beauty  is  in  the  long  run  only  finesse  of  truth. 

1886.     PATER,  Appreciations,  p.  6. 
Becoming  (IV.),  cf.  (XXII.)  £:  Puttenham,  Landor. 

Such  a  play  on  words  would  be  unbecoming.   LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  438. 
Biting  (XIV.)  :  T.  Newton,  Whipple,  EL,  Lit.,  p.  98. 
Bitter  (XIV.)  :  Jeffrey  to  present. 

Richter's  satire  ...  is  never  bitter,  scornful,  or  malignant.     DE 

QUINCEY,  XI.  p.  271. 
Bizarre  (IX.)  :  Hume  to  present. 

Bizarre  mixture  of  the  serious  and  comic  styles.     HUME,  I.,  p.  270. 

Bizarre  and  extraordinary.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  116. 

Bizarre  or  unnatural.     WHIPPLE,  Lit.  of  Age  of  El.,  p.  232. 
Blithe  (XVIII.):  Stedman,  Pater,  p.  56. 

Blithe,  unstudied  utterance.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  73. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      51 

Blundering  (XIX.),  cf.    (II.)    and    (XVIII.)  :    Swinburne,   Mis., 

p.  76. 
Blunt  ( V.) :  Ascham  to  present. 

When  they  wrote,  their  head  was  solitary,  dull,  and  calm ;  and  so 
their  style  was  blunt  and  their  writing  cold.     ASCII  AM,  III., 
p.  210. 
Bluster  (XIX.),  cf.  (XII.) :  Whip,  to  present. 

Bluster  or  bombast.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II.,  p.  49. 
Body  (XIII.)  It:  Swinburne,  Mis,,  p.  9. 
Boisterous  (XIX.)  c\  cf.  (XII):  Saintsbury. 
Bold  (XII.):  Dryden  to  present. 

Bold  and  rhetorical  style.     D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  168. 
Bombastic  (XIX.):  Puttenham  to  present. 

Pure  simple  bombast  .  .  .  arises  from  putting  figurative  expres- 
sion to  an  improper  use.     HURD,  I.,  p.  103. 
Marlowe  .  .   .  constantly  pushes  grandiosity  to  the  verge  of  bom- 
bast.    LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  36. 

The  rhetorical  sublimity  of  their  diction  conies  most  perilously 
near  the  verge  of  bombast.  SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  Jonson, 
p.  58. 

Bon-mot  (XVII.)  :  Watson  was  possessed  of  a  most  copious  collec- 
tion of  bon-mots,  facetious  stories,  and  humorous  compositions  of 
every  kind.     WAKEFIELD,  in  Literaria  Centuria,  Vol.  I.,  p.  20. 
Bookish  (VII.)  :  Whip,  to  present. 

The  dialogue  ...  in  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse  ...  is  bookish. 

WHIFFLE,  Char.  &  Char.  Men,  p.  226. 
Brave  (XXII.)  a :   Beautify  the  same  with  brave  devices.     WEBBE, 

p.  36. 
Brazen  (XIX.)  :  Dryden's  brazen  rant.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III., 

p.  43. 
Breadth  (XIII.)  b  :  Campbell  to  present. 

Breadth  and  comprehensiveness.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  pp.  166-67- 
Brevity  (XIX.)  :  Gascoigne  to  present. 

What  is  quickly  said  the  mind  readily  receives  and  faithfully  re- 
tains. HORACE,  Art  of  Poesy,  p.  214. 

There  is  a  briefness  of  the  parts  sometimes  that  makes  the  whole 
long.  .  .  .  Seneca  may  be  impeached  of  this.  B.  JONSON, 
Timber,  p.  70. 


52      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Bright  (Y.) :  Swin.  to  present. 

The  sweet  pastoral  strain,  so  bright,  so  tender.     DOWDEN,  Shak., 

p.  81. 
Brilliant  (V.) :  Hume  to  present. 

An  over  brilliant  style  obscures  character  and  sentiment.  ARIS- 
TOTLE, Poetics,  p.  81. 

The  brilliant  felicity  of  occasional  images.  DE  QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  337. 
Brisk  (XVIII.)  :  Dryden  to  present.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  Jouson, 

p.  83. 

Brocaded  (V.)  :  Gosse,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Lit.,  pp.  391-92. 
Broken  (XIII.)  :  Dekker  to  present. 

A  broken  language  .  .  .  monosyllabic.     DEKKER,  III.,  p.  188. 
Brooding  (XX.)  b :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  230. 
Brutish  (XXII.)  b:  This  brutish  poetry.     WEBBE,  p.  31. 
Bucolic  (XXI.)  :  Shelley  to  present. 

The  bucolic  and  erotic  delicacy  in  written  poetry  is  correlative 
with  that  softness  in  statuary,  music,  and  the  kindred  arts  .  .  . 
which  distinguished  the  later  Grecian  epoch.  SUELLEY,  VII., 
pp.  118,  119. 

Flexible,  bucolic  hexameter.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  226. 
Buffoonery  (XVII.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Ford's  cold  and  dry  manner  makes  his  buffoonery  at  once  rancid 

and  insipid.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  290. 
Buoyancy  (XVIII.) :  Whip.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  291. 
Burlesque  (XVII.)  :  Rymer  to  present. 

The  French  had  the  like  vicious  appetite,  and  immoderate  passion 

for  vers  burlesque.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  10. 

Burlesque  consists  in  a  disproportion  between  the  style  and  the 
sentiments,  or  between  the  adventitious  sentiments  and  the  fun- 
damental subject.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p,  155. 
Cacophonous  (X.):  Lowell  to  present. 

Such   cacophonous   superlatives   as    "  virtuousest,"  "  viciousest," 

etc.     LOWELL,  Latest  Lit.  Essays,  p.  105. 
Cadence  (X.)  :  Keats  to  present. 

Long  applied  in  theory  to  metrical  form ;  came  to 
refer  to  the  mental  rhythm  and  perhaps  to  a  form  of 
feeling;  and  thus  acquired  direct  critical  significance. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      53 


The  cadence  of  one  line  must  be  a  rule  to  that  of  the  next.     DRY- 
DEN,  XII.,  p.  301. 
A  certain  musical  cadence,  or  what  we  call  rhythm.     KURD,  II., 

p.  6. 
A  cadence  and  symphony  of  suffering.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  11. 
Calm  (XIX.)  :  Hume  to  present. 

Composed,  calm,  and  unconscious  way.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  225. 
Candor  (XIV.)  :  Gold,  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  27. 
Canorous  (X.)  :  Lowell. 

The  Latin  has  given  us  most  of  our  canorous  words,  only  they 
must  not  be  confounded  with  merely  sonorous  ones.     LOWELL, 
Pr.  III.,  p.  184. 
Cant  (VII.)  :  Dekker  to  present. 

If  there  be  not  something  very  like  cant  in  Mr.  Carlyle's  later 
writings,  then  cant  is  not  the  repetition  of  a  creed  after  it  has 
become  a  phrase.     LOWELL,  II.,  p.  97. 
Capacity  (V.)  b  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  312. 
Capricious  (XIX.)  :  T.  Warton. 

Irregular  and  capricious.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  235. 
Careful  (XIX.):  Ros.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  44. 
Careless  (XIX.)  or  (II.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  49. 
Caricature  (VIII.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

This  exaggeration  ...  is  not  caricature,  for  caricature  never  gives 

the  impression  of  reality.     WHIPPLE,  Success,  etc.,  p.  258. 
Catholic  (XIV.)  :  Hallam  to  present. 

Catholic  poetry  .  .  .  that  which  is  good  in  all  ages  and  countries. 

HALLAM,  III.,  p.  228. 
Caution  (XIX.)  :  Jef.,  Swin. 

Caution,  timidity,  and  flatness  .  .  .  of  Addison.  JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  45. 
Changeful  (II.)  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  68. 
Chaotic  (II.)  :  Lowell  to  present. 

The  chaotic  never  pleases  long.     LOWELL,  Prose,  III.,  p.  65. 
Dark  and  chaotic  .  .  .  Blake.     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to  Blake,  p.  cxiii. 
CHARACTER  (VI.). 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth   century, 
"characters"  as  employed  in  criticism  denoted  certain 


54      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

general  traits,  certain  generic  qualities  of  motive  and 
disposition,  —  the  word  being  usually  found  in  the 
plural  form,  and  referring  to  the  personnel 
^nwtis  °^  a  drama.  These  general  dramatic  types 
pc^  no*.  Q£  character  were  to  a  great  extent  an 
inheritance  from  literary  precedent  and  custom.  Cer- 
tain mental  characteristics  had  been  abstracted,  per- 
sonified, and  put  into  action^  More  definite  charac- 
terization was  wholly  subordinated  to  plot  complica- 
tion. "  Character,"  thus  indicating  a  given  native 
bent  of  disposition,  was  both  more  inclusive  in  its 
meaning  than  the  word  "  manners,"  and  more  funda- 
mental, more  nearly  related  to  the  sources  of  motive 
and  of  conduct. 


/        £|]]aracter,  —  that  whereby  we  say  the  actors  gre  of  one 

another.     AKI.STOTLK,  Poetics,  p.  21. 
Character,  —  is  wjia^ejv^r_^hows^hoice.     ID.,  p.  23. 
Beginners  in  composition  succeed  sooner  in  st^le  and  character 

than  in  arrangement  of  incident.  .  .  .  The  plot  thenisJhe  basis, 

and,  as  it  were,  the  soul  of  tragedy,  character  coming  next. 

ID.,  p.  23. 
Prom  the  manners,  the  characters  of  persons  are  derived;  for  in- 

deed the  characters  are  no  other  than  the  inclinations,  as  they 

appear  in  the  several  persons  of  the  poem;  a  character  being 

thus  defined,  —  that  which  distinguishes  one  man  from  another. 

1679.     PRYDEN,  VI.,  p.  269. 
The  several  manners  which  I  have  given  to  the  persons  of  this 

drama  .  .  .  are    all    perfectly   distinguished   from   each   other. 

1694.     ID.,  VIII.,  p.  374. 

The  manners  flow  from  the  characters.     ID.,  XV.,  p.  388. 
The  fable  is  properly  the  poet's  part,  since  — 

The  characters  are  taken  from  Moral  Philosophy, 

tThe  thoughts  or  sense  from  Rhetoric, 

The  expression  from  Grammar.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  pp.  86,  87- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.      55 

Since  within  the^  eighteenth  century,  there  has  been 
a  constant  growth  in  the  conception  of  character  toward 
specification,  and  the  fullest  portrayal  possi-  Ag 
ble    of   motives  and  disposition.      Character  ality* 
has    come  to    represent  personality,  —  that  which   dis- 
tinguishes one  man  from  other  men  as  in  actual  life, 
not  that  which  distinguishes  certain  general  types  of 
literary  representation. 

Nothing  affects  the  heart  like  that  which  is  purely  from  itself,  and 
of  its  own  nature ;  such,,  as  the  beauty  of  sentiments,  the  grace 
of  actions,  the  turn  of  characters,  and  the  proportions  and  fea- 
tures of  a  human  mind.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  105. 

Cato  .  .  .  wants  character,  although  that  be  not  so  essentially 
necessary  to  a  tragedy  as  action.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  p.  257- 

There  is  ...  a  little  degradation  of  character  for  a  more  dra- 
matic turn  of  plot.  1830.  WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  303. 

In  Shakespeare  .  .  .  the  interest  in  the  plot  is  always  ...  on 
account  of  the  characters,  not  vice  versa,  as  in  almost  all  other 
writers.  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  62. 

Character  of  two  kinds  .  .  .  Jaenerm^  representative,  symbolical, 
instructive;  or  sj^ficific^  interesting.  1817.  ID.,  III.,  p.  561. 

Cervantes  is  the  father  of  the  modern  novel,  in  so  far  as  it  has 
become  a  study  and  delineation  of  character  instead  of  being 
a  narrative  seeking  to  interest  by  situation  and  incident.     1885. 
LOWELL,  VI.,  p.  135. 
Charm  (XXII.)  b  :  Jeifrey  to  present. 

A  noble  union  of  truth  and  charm.    SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  76. 
CHASTE  (I.)  or  (XIX.)  &  ;  CHASTITY. 

Correctness  in  the  use  of  language,  and  moderation 
in  figures  of  speech  or  m-ental  imagery ;  a  careful  and 
restrained  method  of  expression,  the  result  of  delicate 
sensibility  and  pure  taste. 

Sentiments  chaste  but  not  cold.     ADDISON,  I.,  p.  254. 
Chaste  and  correct.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  258. 


56      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  chaste  elegance  of  the  following  description  .  .  .  will  gratify 

the  lover  of  classical  purity.     T.  WARTON,  p.  863. 
Critics  have  a  habit  of  calling  certain  sorts  of  work  "chaste";  not 
as  indicating  any  quality  of  moral  continence,  but  as  implying 
the  correctest  and   purest  taste,  unmixed  with  any  license  or 
audacity.     HOSSETTI,  Lives  of  Poets,  p.  262. 
Chastised  (XIX.)  b :  Chastised  gravity  of  the  sentiments.     JEFFREY, 

L,  p.  393. 

Cheerful  (XIV.)  :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  30. 

Childish  (XI.)  :  Childish  and  preposterous.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  212. 
Chiselled  (V.)  :  Ruskiu  to  present. 

The  Duiiciad  is  the  most  absolutely  chiselled  and  monumental 
work  "exacted"  in  our  country.  RUSKIN,  Lectures  on  Art, 
pp.  86,  87. 

Choral  (XXI.)  :  Choral  accompaniments   to  the  performance.     JEF- 
FREY, II.,  p.  129. 

Chosen  (IV.)  :  Brooke,  Tennyson,  p.  251. 
Circuitous  (XVIII.):  Hazlit't,  Whipple. 
Circumstantial  (VIII.)  :b  J.  Warton  to  present. 

Circumstantial   richness   of  description.     MINTO,   Char,  of  Eng. 

Poets,  p.  327. 
Clang  (X.)  :  Swinburne.     High-ringing  clang.     BROOKE,  Tennyson, 

p.  130. 
Clangour  (X.)  :  Clangour  of  sound.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist,  of  Fr.  Lit., 

p.  213. 

Clarion-versed  (X.)  :  Brooke,  Tennyson,  p.  308. 
Clarity    (III.)  :     Swinburne.      Clarity   of    statement  and   reflection. 

GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent    St.,  p.  298. 
Clashing  (X.)  :  Rugged,  clanging,  clashing  lines.      BROOKE,   Ten., 

p.  274. 
CLASSICAL  (XIX .)b. 

The  term  "  classical "  appeared  in  English  criticism 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Though 
AS  the  there  are  no  definitely  marked  periods  in  its 

classic.  history,  five  more  or  less  distinct  shades  of 

meaning  may  perhaps  be  distinguished  in  the  use  of 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.      57 

the  term.  Occasionally  the  term  merely  represents 
the  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome,  whatever  was  then 
and  there  written  and  has  in  any  manner  been  trans- 
mitted to  us.  In  this  sense  of  the  term,  the  "  classi- 
cal" is  found  opposed  to  the  "Gothic,"  but  the  opposi- 
tion between  the  terms  is  not  essential  or  philosophical, 
—  they  are  not  really  exclusive  of  each  other. 

Cambuscan  is  a  composition,  which  at  the  same  time  abundantly 
demonstrates  that  the  manners  of  romance  are  better  calculated 
to  answer  the  purposes  of  pure  poetry,  to  captivate  the  imagi- 
nation, and  to  produce  surprise,  than  the  fictions  of  classical 
antiquity.  1778.  T.  WARTON,  H.  E.  P.,  p.  287. 

This  fatal  result  of  an  enthusiasm  for  classical  literature  was  hast- 
ened and  heightened  by  the  misdirection  of  the  powers  of  art. 
The  imagination  of  the  age  was  actively  set  to  realize' these  ob- 
jects of  Pagan  belief.  1846.  RUSKIN,  St.  of  V.,  II.,  p.  133. 

• 

Very  frequently  in  actual  criticism  the  term  "  clas- 
sical "  has  been  used  to  represent  those  literary  prin- 
ciples or  qualities  which  are  thought  to  be  As  the  char_ 
characteristic  of  the  literary  compositions  theeancient°f 
of  the  ancient  classics,  —  of  those  ancient 
authors  who  are  firmly  established  in  public  esteem. 

Classical  purity.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  185. 

A  writer  so  pure,  sensible,  and  classical  as  Boileau.  ID.,  II., 
p.  393. 

Surrey  for  his  justness  of  thought,  correctness  of  style,  and  purity 
of  expression,  may  justly  be  pronounced  the  first  English  clas- 
sical poet.  1778.  T.  WARTON,  Hist.  E.  P.,  p.  645. 

Elegant  arid  classical.     BLAIR,  llhet.,  p.  446. 

Classical  harmony  of  parts.     1819.     CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  97. 

The  great  difference,  then,  which  we  find  between  the  classical  and 
romantic  style,  between  ancient  and  modern  poetry,  is,  that  the 
one  more  frequently  describes  things  as  they  are  interesting  in 


58      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

themselves,  the  other  for  the  sake  of  the  (associations  of  ideas 
connected  with  them ;  .that  the  one  dwells  more  on  the  immedi- 
ate impressions  of  objects  on  the  senses,  the  other  on  the  ideas 
which  they  suggest  to  the  imagination.  The_jm^Lis_jJie..^oeJ:;rj. 
of  form,  the  other  ofjeffect.  1820.  HAZLITT,  Ag.  of  El.,  p. 
246. 

Milton's  place  is  fixed  as  the  most  classical  of  our  poets.  1872. 
LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  80. 

Classic  elegance,  polish,  and  correctness.  1884.  T.  ARNOLD, 
Man.  of  E.  L.,  p.  306. 

Occasionally  the  "  classical "  denotes  the  characteris- 
tic qualities  of  all  literary  classics,  whether  of  ancient  or 
AS  the  char-  of  modern  times, — of  all  authors  who  from 

acteristics  of 

ail  classics,     their    permanent    influence,  are    thought    to 
embody  the  more  essential  principles  of  literary  art. 

The  problem  is  to  express  new  and  profound  ideas  in  a  perfectly 
sound  and  classical  style.  He  is  the  true  classic  in  every  age 
who  does  that.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  65. 

To  get  rid  of  provinciality  is  a  certain  stage  of  culture ;  a  stage  the 
positive  result  of  which  we  must  not  make  of  too  much  impor- 
tance, but  which  is  nevertheless  indispensable,  for  it  brings  us 
on  to  the  platform  where  alone  the  best  and  highest  intellectual 
work  can  be  said  fairly  to  begin.  Work  done  after  men  have 
reached  this  platform  is  classical ;  and  that  is  the  only  work 
which  in  the  long  run  can  stand.  1865.  ID.,  p.  61. 

Classical  lucidity,  measure,  propriety,  sobriety,  temperance,  soul, 
simplicity,  delicacy,  truth,  grace,  sureness.  ID.,  pp.  65-76. 

Out  of  an  atmosphere  of  all-pervading  oddity  and  quaintness  arises 
a  work  really  ample  and  grand,  nay,  classical,  by  virtue  of  the 
effectiveness  with  which  it  fixes  a  type  in  literature ;  as  indeed, 
at  its  best,  romantic  literature  in  every  period  attains  classical 
quality,  giving  true  measure  of  those  well-worn  critical  distinc- 
tions. 1886.  PATER,  Appreciations,  p.  161. 

In  whatever  style  an  artist  works,  the  style  will  be  classical,  pro- 
vided the  work  itself  be  good,  sincere,  and  representative  of 
sterling  thought.  J.  A.  SYMONDS,  Es.,  Sp.  &  Sug.,  p.  225. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      59 

Frequently  in  theoretical  discussion,  during  the  pres- 
ent century,  and  occasionally  in  applied  criticism,  the 
"  classical  "  and  the  "  romantic  "  have  been  Ag  tte  non 
placed  in  an  antithesis  with  each  other,  romailtic- 
which  is  intended  to  be  real  and  philosophical,  each 
term  being  mutually  complementary  and  exclusive  of 
the  other  one.  However,  the  historical  and  the  philo- 
sophical antitheses  between  the  two  terms  are  constantly 
confused  with  each  other,  and  the  real  distinctions 
between  the  terms  are  only  approximately  drawn.  The 
u  classical  "  requires  a  more  temperate  use  of  energy, 
of  passion,  of  imagination,  of  all  the  mental  activities 
that  are  brought  into  play  in  literary  idealization 
than  the  "  romantic."  At  its  best  the  "  classical  "  rep- 
resents self-restraint  of  the  literary  and  idealizing  ener- 
gies ;  at  its  worst,  a  restraint  imposed  by  custom  and 
precedent. 

The  characteristic  of  the  classical  literature  is  the^sjorplicity  with 
which  the  mjagmjitioji,  appears  in  it  ;  that  of  modern  literature 
is  the  J^ofusion^  with  which  the  most  various  adornments  of 
the  ^a£ce^sorj_^;ncv^are  thrown  and  lavished  upon  it.  1856. 

St.,    I.,    p.  118. 


There  is  one  play,  and  only  one,  of  his  epoch  that  is  not  classic 
and  is  not  romantic,  but  speaks  independently  the  truest  and 
best  mind  of  the  eighteenth  century  itself  in  its  own  form  and 
language.  That  play  is  Nathan  the  Wise.  1878.  J.  MOIILEY, 
Diderot,  I.,  p.  347- 

Qualities  of  measure,  purity,  temperance,  of  which  it  is  the  espe- 
cial function  of  classical  art  and  literature,  whatever  meaning, 
narrower  or  wider,  we  attach  to  the  term,  to  take  care.  1886. 
PATEII,  Ap.,  p.  247. 

The  charm,  therefore,  of  what  is  classical,  in  art  or  literature,  is 
that  of  the  well-known  tale,  to  which  we  can,  nevertheless,  listen 
over  and  over  again,  because  it  is  so  well  told.  ID.,  p.  247- 


60       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Occasionally,  when  placed  in  opposition  to  the  "  ro- 
AS  the  con-  mantic,"  the  "  classical "  has  been  made  to 
ventionai.  signify  the  well-worn,  the  conventional,  the 
pedantic. 

Classical  and  artificial.     1825.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  154. 

Irish  oratory  ...  is  romantic,  Scotch  oratory  .  .  .  classical.  The 
one  may  be  disciplined  and  its  excesses  sobered  down  into  rea- 
son ;  but  the  dry  and  rigid  formality  of  the  other  can  never  burst 
tjie^sliell  or  husk  of  oratory.  ID.,  pp.  256,  257. 

Classicism,  then,  means  for  Stendhal,  for  that  younger  enthusias- 
tic band  of  French  writers  whose  unconscious  method  he  formu- 
lated into  principles,  the  reign  of  what  is  pedantic,  conventional, 
and  narrowly  academical  in  art ;  for  him,  all  good  art  is  roman- 
tic. •  1890.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  262. 
Clean  (I.) :  Puttenham  to  present. 

I.  Until  the  present  century,  the  term  "  clean "  de- 
noted purity  of  language,  or  chastity  of  language  and 
thought. 

More  curiously  than  cleanly.     PDTTENHAM,  p.  28. 
The  language  ...  of  Waller's  poem  on  the  Navy  ...  is  clean 
and  majestic.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  79. 

IT.  During  the  present  century,  the  term  has  repre- 
sented moral  purity. 

Vulgarity  of  its  flat  and  stale  uncleanliness.     SWINBURNE,  Mis., 

p.  80.' 

Clear-cut  (III.) :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  51. 
CLEARNESS  (III.). 

The  term  "  clearness,"  representing  a  general  effect 
which  the  composition  produces  on  the  mind  of  the 
From  gram-  reader,  —  the  ready  and  vivid  comprehen- 

matical  con- 
struction,       sion   of   the  thought  expressed, —  has    natu- 
rally  varied    in    meaning    according    as    criticism   has 
been    especially    occupied    now    with   one    part   of  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   T&RMS.      61 

composition  and  now  with  another.  In  early  English 
criticism,  and  occasionally  even  to  the  present  time, 
"  clearness "  was  thought  to  result  chiefly  from  an 
apt  choice  of  single  words,  and  from  exactness  in  the 
grammatical  construction  of  the  composition. 

Raleigh  ...  is  full  of  proper,  clear,  and  courtly  graces  of  speech. 
1610.  BOLTON,  Hypercritica,  p.  249. 

Lydgate's  manner  is  naturally  verbose  and  diffuse.  This  circum- 
stance contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  give  a  clearness  and  a 
fluency  to  his  phraseology.  1778.  T.  WAIITON,  Hist.  E.  P., 
p.  353. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  "clearness"  was  thought  to  be 
attained  chiefly  by  the  methodic  arrange-  T 

J        J  to        From  logical       v 

mcnt  of  the  language  and  of  the  thought  constructiojl- 
of  a  composition.  It  was  questioned,  however,  whether 
this  was  always  the  more  poetical  or  effective  method 
of  statement. 

In  a  style  that  expressed  such  a  grave  and  so  humble  a  majesty 

with  such  clear  demonstration  of  reason.      1670.      WALTON, 

Lives,  p.  184. 
It  is  one  thing  to  make  an  idea  clear,  and  another  to  make  it  af-    • 

fecting  to  the  imagination.     1756.     BURKE,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  90,  91. 
A  clear  idea  is  another  name  for  a  little  idea.     ID.,  p.  93. 
Dryden  expresses  with  clearness  what  he  thinks  with  vigor.    1781. 

S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  307. 

During  the  present  century,  "  clearness  "  sometimes    » 
From  mental    nas  distinct  reference  to  mental  imagery,  and 
to  the  process  of  the  min $.  by  which  it  is 
called  into  existence. 

Artistic  ability  is  co-ordinate  with  the  clearness  and  staying  power 
of  the  imagination.  1875.  STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  233. 


62       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

More  frequently  the  term  has  been  employed  to  in- 
dicate   the  agreement  of   the  literary   statements  with 

From  corre-    the  facts  which  they  are  supposed  to  7epre- 

spondence  to 

fact.  sent.      The    apparently    clear    statement    is 

often  found  to  be  most  obscure  and  incomprehensible 
when  the  premises  and  assumptions  are  examined  in 
the  light  of  the  facts  of  actual  experience.  There  is 
said  to  be  a  superficial  or  apparent  clearness,  and  a 
fundamental  or  real  clearness. 

rin  every  department  of  eloquence,  and  particularly  in  poetry,  we 
look  for  depth  and  clearness;  a  clearness  that  shows  deptL 
1824.  LANDOR,  II.,  p.  415. 

In  Macaulay's  History  of  England  .  .  .  everything  is  plain ;  all  is 
clear ;  nothing  is  doubtful.  Instead  of  probability  being,  as  the 
great  thinker  expressed  it,  the  very  guide  of  life,  it  has  become 
a  rare  exception,  an  uncommon  phenomenon.  You  rarely  come 
across  anything  which  is  not  decided.  .  .  .  This  is  hardly  the 
style  for  history.  .  .  .  History  is  a  vestige  of  vestiges ;  few  facts 
leave  any  trace  of  themselves,  any  witness  of  their  occurrence. 
1856.  BAGEHOT,  II.,  p.  256. 

Clearness  is  so  eminently  one  of  the  characteristics  of  truth  that 
often  it  even  passes  for  truth  itself.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr. 
Es.,  1st  S.,  pp.  283,  284. 

Macaulay's  writing  passes  for  being  admirably  clear,  and  so  ex- 
ternally it  is;  but  often  it  is  really  obscure,  if  one  takes  his 
deliverances  seriously,  and  seeks  to  find  in  them  a  definite 
meaning  ...  a  distinct  substantial  meaning.  ID.,  Mixed  E., 
p.  181. 
Clench  (XVIL):  Withers,  Dry.,  Johnson. 

A  play  upon  words  ;  a  pun. 

Clinches,  anagrammatical  fancies,  or  such  like  verbal  or  literal  con- 
ceits. WITHERS,  in  Spenser  Society  Series,  vol.  26,  Pt.  I., 
pp.  15,  16. 

Shakespeare  ...  is  many  times  flat  and  insipid;  his  comic  wit 
degenerating  into  clenches.  S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  153. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      63 

Clever  (V.)  b:  Jef.  to  present. 

Clever  and  original  writer.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  67- 
Clinquant  (V.):   Saintsbury,  Eng.  Prose  Style,  p.  xix. 
Cloudy  (III.)  :  Swin.  to  present. 

Cloudy  vagueness.     SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  413. 
Cloying  (XXII.)  b\  Jeffrey  to  present. 

Cloying  perhaps  in  the  uniformity  of  its  beauty.     JEFFREY,  III., 
p.  136. 

Cloying  sentimentalisin.     LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  145. 
Clumsy  (II.):  T.  Warton  to  present. 

Cumbrous  and  clumsy.     WILSON,  VIII.,  p.  44. 

German  clumsiness.     HOWELLS,  Grit,  and  Fiction,  p.  22. 
Clownish  (XIX.) :  Webbe. 

Club-footed  (XVIII.):    Walton's   lyrics   are   mechanical   and  club- 
footed.     LOWELL,  Latest  Lit.  Es.,  p.  70. 
Coarse  (V.) :  Webbe  to  present. 

Lack  of  refinement ;  strength  rather  than  delicacy  of 
feeling. 

Chaucer's  style  may  seem  blunt  and  coarse.     WEBBE,  p.  32. 
This  very  coarseness  of  fibre,  added  to  Vanbrugh's  great  sincerity 
as  a  writer,  gives  his  best  scenes  a  wonderful  air  of  reality. 
GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  68 
Cogency  (XXII.)  b  :  J.  Warton,  Blair. 
COHERENCE  (XIII.)  :  Dryden  to  present.    V 

The  term  has  at  times  been  employed  to  indicate  a 
continuity  of  sound,  of  ideas,  and  of  plot  incidents ;  but 
usually  it  refers  to  the  composition  as  a  whole. 

A   compactness   and   cohciviiro   of  language.       CICERO,    Orators, 

p.  383. 
In  the  best  conducted  fiction,  some  mark  of  improbability  and 

incoherency  will  still  appear.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  250. 
Cold  (XV.):  Ascham  to  present. 

Either  a  deficiency  or  extravagance  of  emotion. 

Cold  .  .  .  without   imagination   or  sensibility.        HALLAM,    IV., 
p.  305. 


64      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Cold-blooded  (XV.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Cold-blooded  ribaldry.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  125. 
Colloquial  (I.) :  J.  Warton  to  present. 

A  free  and  colloquial  air.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  9. 
COLOR  (V.)  a. 

The  history  of  the  term  "  color  "  may  be  divided  into 
two  periods.  Until  within  the  eighteenth  century, 
AS  figurative  "  c°l°r "  usually  referred  to  the  figurative 
language.  uge  Qj  sjngie  W0rds ;  occasionally  to  more 
extended  figures  of  speech. 

Just  colours,  good  rhyme,  etc.     1585.     K.  JAMES,  p.  57- 

Virgil  maketh  a  brave  coloured  complaint  of  unsteadfast  friendship. 

1586.    WEBBE,  p.  53. 

Now  the  words  are  the  colouring  of  the  work,  which  in  the  order 
of  nature  is  last  to  be  considered.  .  .  .  Words  indeed,  like 
glaring  colours,  are  the  first  beauties  that  arise  and  strike  the 
sight;  but  if  the  draught  be  false  or  lame,  the  figures  ill-dis- 
posed, the  manners  obscure  or  inconsistent,  or  the  thoughts 
unnatural,  then  the  finest  colours  are  but  daubing,  and  the 
piece  is  a  beautiful  monster  at  the  best.  1699.  DRYDEN, 
XL,  p.  216. 

During  the  present  century,  the  term  "color"  has 
steadily  increased  in  use,  and  it  has  been  employed  in 
AS  vivid  three  more  or  less  distinct  ways.  Frequently 
imagery.  ^  s]gn]fles  wor(j  painting,  —  the  vivid  por- 
trayal of  single  images,  which,  like  a  picture,  seem 
filled  with  all  the  colors  of  the  actual  scenes  repre- 
sented, and  thus  literally  give  color  to  the  composition 
itself.  This  use  of  the  term  was  prefigured  during  the 
eighteenth  century  in  the  discussion  of  the  pictorial 
effect  of  the  imagination. 


A  HISTORY  OP  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      65 

The  poets  who  are  always  addressing  themselves  to  the  imagina- 
tion, borrow  more  of  their  epithets  from  colours  than  from  any 
other  topic.  1712.  ADDISON,  III.,  p.  400. 

Colouring  of  the  imagination.     HUME,  L,  p.  278. 

Poetry  is  a  species  of  painting.  ,  .  .  The  poet,  instead  of  simply 
relating  the  incident,  strikes  off  a  glowing  picture  of  the  scene, 
and  exhibits  in  the  most  lively  colours  to  the  eye  of  the  imagi- 
nation. 1761.  GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  354. 

The  contrast  was  remarkable  between  the  uncolored  style  of  his 
general  diction  and  the  brilliant  felicity  of  occasional  images, 
embroidered  upon  the  sober  ground  of  his  text.  1845.  DE 
QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  337. 

Richness,  color,  warmth.     M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es.,  p.  218. 

All  Chaucer's  works  are  full  of  bright  colour,  fresh  feeling.  1874. 
MINTO,  Char,  of  E.  P.,  p.  29. 

More  usually  "color"  represents  a  general  brilliancy 
of  thought  and  imagery  in  a  composition, —  AS  briiiia 
imagery  which  is  associative  and  illustrative  of  style* 
rather  than  concentrated  into  single  glowing  pictures. 

Where  one  idea  gives  a  tone  and  colour  to  others.     1818.     II  AZ- 

LITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  16. 
The  colours  (in  Gibbon's  "Decline,  etc.")  are  gorgeous  like  those  of 

the  setting  sun;  and  such  were  wanted.     1826.     LANDOR,  IV., 

p.  95. 
Cowley's  want  of  colour  .  .  .  recommended  him  to  the  classic 

poets.     1888.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  6. 

Occasionally  the  term  denotes  an  imagi-  As  exagger_ 
native  overstatement  of  fact. 

Colours  of  poetical  ingenuity.     HAZLTTT,  Eliz.  Lit.,  p.  110. 
A  poetical  colouring  of  facts.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  388. 
COMEDY  (XXI.). 

I.  Previous  to  the  present  century,  "  comedy  "  was 
the  representation  of  manners,  customs,  and  incidentally 
of  character,  the  plot  having  an  agreeable  outcome. 

5 


66      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Some  have  made  it  a  question  whether  comedy  be  poetry  at  all, 
for  there  is  no  inspiration  and  vigour  either  in  the  diction  or 
the  subjects.  HORACE,  p.  115. 

Comedy  is  no  more  at  present  than  a  well-framed  tale  handsomely 
told  as  an  agreeable  vehicle  for  counsel  or  reproof.  Earquhar's 
"Love  and  Business/'  1702.  GOSSE,  H.  E.  Lit.,  p.  72. 

And  my  idea  of  comedy  requires  only  that  the  pathos  be  kept  in 
subordination  to  the  manners.  1751.  HURD,  II. ,  p.  95. 

To  please  our  curiosity  and  perhaps  our  malignity  by  a  faithful 
representation  of  manners  is  the  purpose  of  comedy.  To  excite 
laughter  is  the  sole  .  .  .  aim  of  farce.  1762.  GIBBON,  IV., 
p.  134. 

Comedy  was  used  all  through  the  Elizabethan  age  in  a  loose  sense, 
which  would  embrace  anything  between  a  tragi-comedy  and  a 
farce.  Thus  the  Merchant  of  Venice  is  reckoned  among  the 
comedies  of  Shakespeare.  T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  of  Eng.  Lit., 
p.  498. 

II.  During  the  present  century,  u  comedy"  is  the 
representation  of  manners,  and  perhaps  of  character, 
so  as  to  appear  ridiculous,  —  the  corrective  or  reform- 
ing influence  being  subordinated  to  this. 

It  is  ...  the  criticism  which  the  stage  exercises  upon  public 
manners  that  is  fatal  to  comedy,  by  rendering  the  subject 
matter  of  it  tame,  correct,  and  spiritless.  HAZLITT,  The  Round 
Table,  p.  14. 

•  Comedy,  as  the  reflex  of  sociallife.  will  shift  in  correspondence 
to  the  shifting  movements  of  civilization.  DE  QUINCEY,  X., 
p.  342. 

Comely  (XXII.)*:  Gas.,  Put.,  Webbe. 
COMIC-AL  (XVII.). 

A  comprehensive  expression  for  the  laughable  or 
humorous,  and  more  direct  in  its  application  than  the 
noun  "comedy."  Indicative  of  acuteness  and  subtlety; 
often,  d u ring  the  present  century,  of  sympathy  also. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      67 

A  ramble  of  comical  wit  ...  in  Othello.     RYMER,  2d  Ft.,  p.  146. 

A  certain  tincture  of  the  pitiable  makes  comic  distress  more  irre- 
sistible.    CAMPBELL,  Vol.  I.,  p.  71. 
Commerage:  The  commerage  of  the  letters  of  Walpole.      SAINTS- 

BUIIY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxvi. 

Common  (IX.) :  J.  War.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  12. 
COMMONPLACE  (IX.)  :  Dryden  to  present,     rv   1 

I-  Until  within  the  eighteenth  century,  the  word 
u  commonplace "  was  often  employed  in  a  technical 
sense  to  denote  certain  universally  admitted  facts  or 


truths,  which  could   be   made   the   basis  for  argument, 
or  the  means  for  setting  forth  a  moral  lesson. 

To  dwell  in  Epitomes  and  books  of  common  places  .  .  .  maketh 
so  many  seeming  and  sunburnt  ministers  as  we  have.  ASCII  AM, 
III.,  p.'  201. 

Christ  could  as  well  have  given  the  moral  commonplace  ...  of 
disobedience  and  mercy,  as  that  heavenly  discourse  of  the  lost 
child  and  the  gracious  father  .  .  .  but  that  his  through-search- 
ing wisdom  knew  .  .  .  that  it  would  more  constantly  .  .  .  in- 
habit both  the  memory  and  judgment.  SIDNEY,  pp.  17,  18. 

II.  More  recently  the  term  has  represented  that 
which  is  common,  trite,  and  well  known.  Often  this 
has  been  regarded  as  the  foundation  of  literary  truth ; 
its  more  clear  and  vivid  apprehension  marking  the 
culmination  of  literary  art. 

To  restore  a  commonplace  truth  to  its  first  uncommon  lustre,  you 
need  only  translate  it  into  action.  But  to  do  this,  you  must 
have  reflected  on  its  truth.  COLERIDGE,  I.,  p.  117. 

The  eternal  grandeur  of  commonplace  and  all-time  truths,  which 
are _  the_starjle,  of  aUjgoetry-  WILSON,  VI.,  p.  117. 

Exaltation  of  the  commonplace  through  the  scientific  spirit  in 
realism.  HOWELLS,  Grit,  and  Fiction,  p.  16. 


68     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

III.  More  often,  however,  the  commonplace,  as  such, 
has  not  been  considered  as  fit  material  for  literature ; 
it  represents  the  unrefined,  the  unimpassioned,  the 
stale,  the  insipid. 

Thompson  abounds  in  sentimental  commonplaces.     WORDSWORTH, 

II.,  p.  119. 

Nothing  can  be  farther  from  the  stale  commonplace  and  cuckooism 
of  sentiment    than    the    philanthropic    eloquence   of    Cowper. 
CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  428. 
The  love  scenes  are  .  .  .  gross  and  commonplace.     HAZLTTT,  Age 

of  El.,  p.  113. 

To  take  the  passion  out  of  a  novel  is  something  like  taking  the 
sunlight  out  of  a  landscape ;  and  to  condemn  all  the  heroes  to 
be  utterly  commonplace  is  to  remove  the  centre  of  interest  in 
a  manner  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the  story.     STE- 
PHEN, Hrs.  in  a  Library,  I.,  p.  239. 
Compact  (XIII.) :  J.  War.  to  present. 
Compass  (XIII.)  :  De  Quin.  to  present. 
Competence  (XXII.) :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  137. 
Complete  (XIII.) :  Wilson,  VI.,  p.  134. 

Complex  (III.)  :  De  Quin.  to  present.     De  Quincey,  X.,  p.  149. 
Complication  (II.) :    Of   plot,   and   resolution.      MOULTON,    Shak., 

etc.,  p.  664. 
Composed  (XIX.)  b\  Jef.  to  present. 

Composed,  calm,  and  unconscious  way.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  225. 
Composite  (XIII.):  Haz.,  Saints. 

Sir  James  Macintosh  may  claim  the  foremost  rank  among  those 
who  pride  themselves  on  artificial  ornaments  and  acquired  learn- 
ing, or  who  write  what  may  be  termed  a  composite  ityle.     HAZ- 
LITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  178. 
Comprehensive  (XIII.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Comprehensiveness  ...  of  Shakespeare's  Historical  plays.     DOW- 
DEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  167. 
Compression  (XIX.):  Lan.  to  present. 

Compressed  manner.     M.  ARNOLD,  Celtic  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  207 
CONCEIT  (XXIII.). 


A  HISTORY  OF1  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     69 

Until  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "  con- 
ceit," as  used  in  criticism,  denoted  in  general  the  power 
of  the  mind  to  combine  and  recombine  the 

As  conception. 

elements  given  in  experience,  especially  when 
the  combinations  from  their  novelty  or  beauty  gave  rise 
to  aesthetic  pleasure.  Novelty,  however,  in  such  com- 
binations usually  dominated  the  sense  of  beauty,  and 
hence  conceits  during  this  period  ceased  to  be  synony- 
mous with  thought  in  general,  or  with  imaginative 
thought,  and  came  to  be  closely  related  in  meaning  to 
a  witticism,  or  to  mere  fancy.  "Conceit"  during  this 
period  was  very  seldom  employed  as  an  active  critical 
term. 

Conceit  of  wit.     1580.     HARVEY,  p.  48. 

That  high-flying  liberty  of  conceit  proper  to  the  poet.  1583.  SID- 
NEY, pp.  5,  6. 

We  must  prescribe  to  no  writers  (much  less  to  poets)  in  what  sort 
they  should  utter  their  conceits.  15 8 G.  WEBBE. 

The  number  is  voluble  and  fit  to  express  any  amorous  conceit. 
CAMPION,  p.  254. 

This  letter  was  writ  in  such  excellent  Latin,  was  so  full  of  con- 
ceits, and  all  the  expressions  so  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  king, 
etc.  1678.  WALTON,  Lives,  p.  235. 

When  lie  aimed  at  wit  in  the  stricter  sense,  that  is,  sharpness  of 
conceit.  1670.  DRYDEN,  IV.,  p.  237. 

A  miserable  conceit  tickling  you  to  laugh.  1699.  ID.,  VIII., 
p.  374. 

During  the  eighteenth  and  the  present  century,  "con- 
ceit" has  indicated  strange  combinations  of  ideas  or  of 
images,  which  seem  to  be  made  for  the  sake  A 

As  far-fetched 

of  the  strangeness,  and  which  have  no  essen-  comParisons- 
tial  relations  with  each  other  either  from  the  aesthetic 


70      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

or  practical  point  of  view.  Usually  a  conceit  consists 
of  a  too  great  elaboration  of  a  real  analogy, —  an  elab- 
oration so  great,  in  fact,  that  the  real  analogy  is  wholly 
lost  sight  of  in  view  of  the  elaboration.  During  these 
two  centuries,  "conceit"  has  been  in  general  a  term 
of  condemnation,  though  often  some  adjective  prefixed, 
such  as  "  forced "  or  "  far-fetched,"  is  necessary  in 
order  to  give  to  it  this  negative  force. 

If  defective,  or  unsound  in  the  least  part,  the  methodical  style 
must  of  necessity  lead  us  to  the  grossest  absurdities,  and  stiff- 
est  pedantry  and  conceit.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  202. 

Conceit  is  to  nature  what  paint  is  to  beauty ;  it  is  not  only  need- 
less, but  impairs  what  it  would  improve.  1706.  POPE,  VI., 
p.  51. 

Some  to  conceit  alone  their  taste  confine, 

And  glittering  thoughts  strike  out  at  every  line. 

1711-     ID.,  II.,  p.  50. 

Puerile  and  far-fetched  conceit.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  8. 

Forced  conceits,  .  .  .  violent  metaphors,  .  .  .  swelling  epithets. 
ID.,  II.,  p.  21. 

Puns  and  conceits.     T.  WAWTON,  H.  E  P.,  p.  647- 

With  men  like  Earle,  Donne,  Fuller,  Butler,  Marvel],  and  even 
Quarles,  conceit  means  wit;  they  would  carve  the  merest 
cherry-stone  of  thought  in  the  quaintest  and  delicatest  fashion. 
But  with  duller  and  more  painful  writers,  such  as  Gascoigne, 
.  .  .  where  they  insisted  on  being  fine,  their  wit  is  conceit. 
1858-64.  LOWELL,  Lit.  Es.,  I,  p.  303. 

Now  when  this  kind  of  thing  is  done  in  earnest,  the  result  is  one 
of  those  ill  distributed  syllogisms  which  in  rhetoric  are  called 
conceits.  1868.  ID.,  III.,  p.  53. 

The  novel  is  not  only  in  itself  .  .  .  unfriendly  to  the  pompous 
.style,  but  it  happened  to  attract  .  .  .  the  great  genius  of  Field- 
ing, which  was  from  nothing  so  averse  ...  as  from  .  .  .  pre- 
tension, pedantry,  or  conceit.  SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St., 
p.  xxvi. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      71 

Conceited  (VII.):  Camp,  to  present. 

The  conceited  Spanish-French  style.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit., 

p.  293. 
Concentrated  (XIX.) :  Lan.  to  present. 

Lucretius'  .  .  .  poetry    is    masculine,    plain,    concentrated,   and 

energetic.     LAN  DOR,  IV.,  p.  525. 
Concinnity  (IV.)  :  Lowell. 

Marlowe's  Hero  and  Leander  has  .  .  .  many  lines  as  perfect  in 
their  continuity  as  those  of  Pope.     LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  52. 
Concise  (XIX.) :  Bacon  to  present. 

Poetry  .  .  .  must  be  more  intense  in  meaning  and  more  concise 

in  style  than  prose.     BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  II.,  p.  351. 
Concrete  (VIII.)  bi  Pater  to  present. 

Concrete  imagery  of  Blessed  Damozel.     PATER,  Ap.,  etc.,  p.  215. 
Condensed  (XIX.)  :  Cole,  to  present. 

Results  either  from  careful  selection,  or  from  intensity 
of  feeling. 

Crabbe's  .  .  .  great    selection   and    condensation    of    expression. 

JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  276. 
There   is   no   enthusiasm,  no   energy,   no   condensation,   nothing 

which   springs   from   strong   feeling,    nothing   which   tends   to 

excite  it.     1824.     MACAULAY,  IV.,  p.  381. 
Shakespeare's  sonnets  are  hot  and  pothery ;  there  is  much  con- 
densation, little  delicacy.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  512. 
Goldsmith   was  a   great,  perhaps   an  unequalled,    master  of  the 

arts  of  selection  and   condensation.      1856.     MACAULAY,  IV., 

p.  51. 
Confused  (II.)  :  Ascham  to  present 

Order  helps  much  to  perspicuity  as  confusion  hurts.     B.  JONSON, 

Timber,  p.  63. 
Congenial  (XIV.):    Congenial  ease  ...  of  Pepys.      GOSSE,   Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  80. 
CONGRUITY  (IV.). 

Until   the   present   century,  "  congruity "  was   often 
employed   in    conjunction    with   the   term   "  propriety," 


72     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL   TERMS. 

with  which  it  was  very  nearly  identical  in  meaning. 
The  sense  of  the  congruous,  however,  was  perhaps  more 
AS  artistic  concentrated,  definite,  and  distinct  than  the 
propriety.  sense  Of  propriety  ;  it  was  more  immediate  in 
its  action,  and  in  a  sense  more  spontaneous ;  it  was  the 
first  flash  of  recognition  of  a  propriety  between  specific 
features  of  a  composition.  As  referring  not  to  the 
mental  process,  but  to  the  completed  literary  product, 
the  two  terms  are  exactly  synonymous. 

A  solecism  or  incongruity.     1585.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  258. 

Shakespeare,  to  enrich  his  scene  with  that  variety  which  his  exu- 
berant genius  so  largely  supplied,  hath  deformed  his  best  plays 
with  prodigious  incongruities.  1749.  HURD,  I.,  p.  69. 

During  the  present  century,  "  congruity  "  has  repre- 
AS  etMcai  seiited  the  moral  sense  of  symmetry  and 
harmony.  proportion  ill  literature,  the  unusual  or  un- 
expected violation  of  which  produces  the  ridiculous  or 
the  humorous. 

Wit  is  the  clash  and  reconcilement  of  incongruities.  1846.  HUNT, 
Wit  and  Humour,  p.  8. 

Humor  in  its  first  analysis  is  a  perception  of  the  incongruous, 
and  in  its  highest  development  of  the  incongruity  between  the 
actual  and  the  ideal  in  men  and  life.  1S66.  LOWELL,  II.,  p. 
97. 

The  same  want  of  humor  which  made  Wordsworth  insensible  to 
incongruity  may  perhaps  account  also  for  the  singular  uncon- 
sciousness of  disproportion  which  so  often  strikes  us  in  his 
poetry.  1875.  ID.,  IV.,  p.  410. 

Tragic  incongruity  arises  from  the  disproportion  between  the  world 
and  the  soul  of  man ;  life  is  too  small  to  satisfy  the  soul.  .  .  . 
The  comic  incongruity  is  the  reverse  of  this.     DOWDEN,  Sh., 
his  Mind  &  Art,     p.  351. 
Conscientious  (XIV.):  Ros.,  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.  p.  86. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      73 

Conscious  (VII.):  S.  John,  to  present. 

Where  an  unconscious  energy  unites  itself  in  the  artist  with  his 
conscious  activity,  and  these  interpenetrate  one  another,  the 
work  of  art  comes  forth.  DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  pp.  408,  409. 

Consentaneity  (IV. ):  In  the  poems  of  Wordsworth,  which  are 
most  distinctively  Wordsworthian,  there  is  an  entire  consen- 
taneity of  thought  and  feeling.  DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  127. 

Consistency  (XIIL),  cf.  (XIV.)  :  Rymer  to  present. 

Adaptation  of  the  parts  of  a  composition  to  each 
other  so  as  to  produce  uniformity  of  tone  and  unity 
of  impression. 

Ben  Jonson's  plots  are  improbable  by  an  excess  of  consistency. 

HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  51. 
One-ness,  that  is  to  say,  consistency  in  the  general  impression, 

metrical  and  moral.     HUNT,  Imagination  and  Fancy,  p.  33. 
Shakespeare  alone  .  .   .  made  a  world-wide  variety  of  character 
and  incident  consistent  with  oneness  of  impression.     WHIPPLE, 
Lit.  of  Age  of  EL,  p.  120. 
Conspicuous    (XVI.),    cf.    (IX.):    Jef.,    Stephen.       Jeffrey,    II., 

p.  247. 
Constrained  (XVIII.) :  K.  James  to  Carlyle. 

The  hiatus  is  smoother,  less  constrained,  and  so  preferable  to  the 

caesura.     POPE,  VI.,  p.  113. 
Constructive  (XXIII.) :  Saintsbury. 

Four  requisites  for  a  poet  .  .  .  creativeness,  constructiveness,  the 

sublime,  the  pathetic.     LANDOR,  VIII.,  p.  419. 
Consummate  (XXII.):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Contemplative  (XX.)  b :  Jef.,  Ros.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  451. 
Continuity  (XIII.) :  Lan.  to  present. 

Connected  ;  blended  and  fused  into  a  close  emotional 
unity. 

Continuous  .  .  .  united  by  means  of  connectives.      ARISTOTLE, 

Ehet.,  p^29. 
The  musical  in  sound  is  the  sustained  and  continuous  5  the  musical 


74     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

in  thought  is  the  sustained  and  continuous  also.     HAZLITT,  Eng. 

Poets,  p.  16. 
The  rhythmical,  the  continuous,  what  in  French  is  called  the  sou- 

tenu.     DE  QUINCEY,  III.,  p.  51. 
Contorted  (II.) :  Cole.,  Car. 
Conventional  (IV.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Wordsworth   has   much   conventional   sentiment.       PATER,   Ap., 

p.  38. 

Conversational:  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Pr.  Style,  p.  18. 
Convincing  (XXII.)  b:  H.  James,  Partial  Portraits,  pp.  251,  252. 
Convolution  (II.)  :  Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit,,  p.  42. 
Copious  (XI.)  b'.  Put.  to  present. 

Homer's  diction,  contrary  to  what  one  would  imagine  consistent 

with  simplicity,  is  at  the  same  time  very  copious.     POPE,  VI., 

p.  13. 
Copy  (XI  )  b :  T.  Wil.,  B.  Jon. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  those  that,  to  gain  the  opinion 

of  copy,  utter  all  they  can,  however  unfitly ;  and  those  that  use 

election  and  a  mean.     B.  JONSON,  Pref.  to  Alchemist. 
Cordial  (XIV.)  :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  67. 
CORRECTNESS  (I.). 

"  Correctness "  denotes  in  general  a  conformity  in 
literature  to  the  known  laws  of  language  and  to  the 
established  rules  of  composition.  The  term  thus  refers 
primarily  to  the  form  of  expression  rather  than  to  the 
thought,  and  represents  a  method  of  restraining  or 
controlling  the  immediate  movement  in  the  develop- 
ment of  language  by  means  of  past  literary  attainments. 
The  history  of  the  term  may  be  divided  into  three 
periods. 

Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "cor- 
rectness "  was  one  of  the  chief  active  terms  of  criticism. 
AS  exact  In  the  advertising  phrase,  "  corrected  and 
composition,  enlarged,"  which  was  so  often  placed  on  the 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      75 

title  page  of  the  early  dramas,  "corrected"  perhaps 
signified  merely  that  the  drama  had  been  revised,  es- 
pecially its  language,  so  as  to  be  more  intelligible  and 
acceptable  than  it  had  been  hitherto.  But  in  all  such 
revision  there  was  a  constant  tendency  to  "  correct " 
irregularities  of  all  kinds,  whether  caused  by  overhaste 
or  by  the  moulding  influence  of  the  inspiration  which 
had  given  to  the  drama  its  literary  value.  "Correct- 
ness," as  referring  to  versification,  denoted  metrical 
regularity,  or  at  least  variation  of  meter  according  to 
method  and  rule.  "  Correct,"  as  referring  to  the  drama, 
indicated  a  conformity  to  certain  traditional  rules  of 
plot  construction.  The  term,  in  short,  denoted  exact- 
ness in  language  and  method  in  composition,  and  even 
the  most  ardent  disciples  of  u  correctness "  recognized 
that  it  was  opposed  to  the  onward  movement  of  lit- 
erary sympathy  and  appreciation. 

All  language  has  three  kinds  of  excellence,  to  be  correct,  perspicu- 
ous, and  elegant.     QUINTILIAN,  I.  p.  37- 
Jonson  is  the  more  correct  poet,  but  Shakespeare  is  the  greater 

wit.     1668.    DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  34?. 

Correct  plotting  .  .  .  and  decorum  of  the  stage.    1670.    DRYDEN, 
"  Vol.  IV. 
It  is  to  criticism  that  the  sacred  authors  themselves  owe  their 

highest  purity  and  correctness.     SHAFTESBURY,  III.,  p.  186. 
Correctly  cold.     1711.     POPE,  II.,  p.  48. 
Blot  out,  correct,  insert,  refine, 
Enlarge,  diminish,  interline : 
Be  mindful  when  invention  fails, 
To  scratch  your  head  and  bite  your  nails. 

SWIFT,  XIV.,  p.  303. 

From  about   the   middle   of   the  eighteenth   century 
until   within  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present  cen- 


76      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

tury,  "  correct,"  though  fast  passing  out  of  favor,  was 
still  an  active  term  in  criticism.  Attempts  were  made 
in  two  ways  to  modify  the  intensely  conservative  na- 
ture of  the  term. 

AS  accuracy  Occasionally  the  term  was  applied  directly 
to  fact.  j.Q  £}ie  ^0^1^  Of  a  composition,  indicating 

truthfulness  to  the  historical  fact  represented. 

Nature  in  awe  to  Him 
Had  dofft  her  gawdy  trim. 

(Milton,  On  the  Nativity.) 
This  is  incorrect  ...  it  was  winter.      1756.      J.  WARTON,  I., 

p.  39. 

Truth  and  correctness.     KURD,  I.,  pp.  70,  71. 
Shakespeare  .  .  .  the  most  correct  of  poets.     COLERIDGE,  IV., 
p.  65. 

More  usually,  in  so  far  as  the  term  was  thought  to 
represent  any  positive  literary  merit  at  all,  it  indicated 
AS  econom  a  cer^ain  moderation  of  tone  in  literature, 
efficiency11  °r  which,  by  being  adapted  exactly  to  the  taste 
mt'  of  the  audience  addressed,  gave  evidence  of 
ui cat  skill,  and  perhaps  produced  as  great  an  effect  as 
could  be  attained  by  more  spontaneous  and  irregular 
methods  of  composition. 

Correct  mediocrity,  which  distinguishes  the  lyric  poetry  of  the 
French.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  66. 

The  early  productions  of  Pope  were  perhaps  too  finished,  correct, 
and  pure.  ID.,  I.,  p.  83. 

Correctness  is  a  vague  term,  frequently  used  without  meaning  and 
precision.  The  French  critics  declare  that  the  English  writers 
are  generally  incorrect.  If  correctness  implies  an  absence  of 
petty  faults,  this  perhaps  may  be  granted ;  if  it  means  a  just 
economy  in  fables,  the  notion  is  groundless  and  absurd.  ID., 
I.,  p.  196. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      77 

It  is  ...  the  criticism  which  the  stage  exercises  upon  public 
manners  that  is  fatal  to  comedy,  by  rendering  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  it  tame,  correct,  and  spiritless.  1817-  HAZLITT,  The 
Round  Table,  p.  14. 

His  imagination  .  .  .  unrestrained  by  a  correct  judgment.  1818. 
BRYANT,  I.,  p.  52. 

Correctness  ...  is  ...  skill.  ...  In  this  sense,  Scott,  Words-     «/ 
worth,  and  Coleridge  are  far  more  correct  poets  than  Pope  or 
Addison.      1830.     MACAULAY,  I.,  p.  470. 

Coldly  and  stiffly,  though  correctly  and  classically.  1830.  WIL- 
SON, V.,  p.  362. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  present  century  the 
term  ".correct"  has  not  been  applied  to  current  liter- 
ature, but  has  been  employed  as  a  means  for  ^  retrospec- 
explaining  the  literature  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  especially  the  writings  of 
Dryden  and  Pope.  As  a  retrospective  term,  the  mean- 
ing of  "correctness"  has  been  determined,  not  from 
what  the  term  signified  to  Dryden  and  Pope  themselves, 
but  from  what,  as  seen  in  their  writings,  the  general 
effect  of  "  correctness  "  is,  when  it  is  made  the  central 
and  organizing  principle  of  literature.  The  modern 
interpretations  of  "correctness"  are  more  general  and 
psychological,  and  refer  more  to  the  thought  of  the 
composition  than  did  u  correctness "  as  understood  in 
the  times  of  Dryden  and  Pope. 

A  mind  always  intent  on  correctness  is  apt  to  be  dissipated  in 
trifles.  LONGINUS,  p.  63. 

It  is  an  error  that  Pope's  distinction  consisted  in  correctness.  .  .  . 
Of  all  poets  that  have  practiced  reasoning  in  verse,  Pope  is  the 
most  inconsequential  in  the  deduction  of  his  thoughts,  and  the 
most  severely  distressed  in  any  effort  to  effect  or  to  explain 
the  dependency  of  their  parts.  .  .  .  His  grammar  is  vicious  .  ,  . 


78     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

his  syntax  so  bad  as  to  darken  his  meaning  at  times,  and  at 
other  times  to  defeat  it.  1848.  DE  QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  62. 

Correctness  in  metrical  composition,  as  I  understand  Pope  to 
mean,  implies  obedience  to  the  laws  of  imaginative  thought; 
and  therefore  not  only  precision  of  poetical  expression,  but 
justice  of  poetical  conception.  COURTHOPE,  Lib.  Movement, 
etc.,  p.  59. 

The  virtue  on  which  Pope  prided  himself  was  correctness ;  and  I 
have  interpreted  this  to  mean  the  quality  which  is  gained  by 
incessant  labour  guided  by  quick  feeling,  and  always  under  the 
strict  supervision  of  common  sense.  STEPHEN,  Pope,  p.  195. 
Morley's  Eng.  Men  of  Letters. 

English  prose  literature  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, in  the  hands  of  Dry  den  and  Locke,  was  becoming,  as  that 
of  France  had  become  at  an  earlier  dale,  a  matter  of  design  and 

[skilled  practice,  highly  conscious  of  itself  as  an  art,  and  above 
all  correct.  1886.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  127. 

Setting  up  correctness,  that  humble  merit  of  prose,  as  the  central 
literary  excellence,  he  (Dry den)  is  really  a  less  correct  writer 
than  he  may  seem,  still  with  an  imperfect-  mastery  of  the  rela- 
tive pronoun.     1888.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  3. 
Corrective :  Jeffrey. 
Corrupt  (XIV.):   Coleridge,  Stephen,  Eng.    Thought  in  Eighteenth 

Century,  II.,  p.  353. 

Costly  (V.):  Spenser's   style  ...  is  costly.     None  but  the  dainti- 
est and  nicest  phrases  will  serve  him.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  334. 
Courtly  (V.)  :  Boltou  to  present. 

Raleigh  ...  is  full  of  proper,  clear,  and  courtly  graces  of  speech. 

1610.     BOLTON,  Hypercritica,  p.  249. 

Covert  (III.):  Put.  The  English  have  no  fancy,  and  are  never 
surprised  into  a  covert  or  witty  word.  EMERSON,  Rep.  Men, 
p.  221. 

Crabbed  (II.)  :  Dek.  to  present.     Gosse,  From  Shak.  etc.,  p.  118. 
Creative  (XXIII.) :  T.  War.  to  present. 

Used  chiefly  in  theory.  It  represents  the  result  of 
the  imaginative  activities  of  the  mind,  which  are  brought 
into  play  in  the  production  of  literature. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       79 

Imagination  has  something  in  it  like  creation.     ADDISON,  III., 

p.  429. 

For  by  invention,  I  believe,  is  usually  understood  a  creative  fac- 
ulty.    FIELDING,  T.  Jones,  II.,  p.  6. 
Genius  .  .  .  the  power  of  acting  creatively  under  laws  of  its  own 

origination.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  54. 
Creeping  (XVIII.):  Jeff,  Hal.,  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  521. 
Crisp  (XVIII.) :  Terse  and  crisp  versification.     GOSSE,  From  Shak., 

etc,  p.  212. 
CRITICAL  (XX.)  a:  Hal,  Saints. 

Used  chiefly  in  theory: 

I.  As  an  elaborative  and  reflective  process. 

Fancy  was  weakened  by  reflection  and  philosophy.  .  .  .  Judgment 
was  advanced  above  imagination,  and  rules  of  criticism  were 
established.  T.  WARTON,  H.  E.  P.,  p.  627. 

The  critical  faculty  is  lower  than  the  inventive.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr. 

Es,  1st  S,  p.  3. 

II.  As  a  penetrative  and  intuitive  process. 

Poetry  is  at  bottom  a  criticism  of  life.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es,  2d  S, 
p.  143. 

A   delicate  and  tender  justice  in  the  criticism   of  human  life. 

PATER,  Ap,  p.  105. 
Crooked  (II.)  :  Ascham,  Milton. 
Crude  (V.) :  Rymer  to  present. 

Crude  work  of  Shelley's  boyhood.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  247. 
Cumbrous  (II.)  :  Cole  to  present. 

Cumbrous  and  clumsy.     WILSON,  VIII,  p.  86. 
Cunning  (V.)  b :  Swin,  Dow. 

Delicate  cunning.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc,  p.  60. 
Curious  (IX.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

I.   The  odd  and  striking,  viewed  chiefly  as  a  product. 

More  curiously  than  cleanly.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  28. 

More  careful  to  speak  curiously  than  truly.     SIDNEY,  p.  54. 


80      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

II.  The  desire  for  the  strange  and  unusual,  viewed 
chiefly  as  a  mental  process. 

When  one's   curiosity  .  .  .  overbalances   the   desire   of  beauty. 
PATER,  Ap.3  p.  248. 

Not  less  interesting  than  curious.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  137. 
Currant  (XVIII.)  :  Har.,  Put.,  Webbe. 

Currant  and  slipper  upon  the  tongue.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  24. 
Cut-and-thrust  (XII.) :  Wilson,  VII.,  p.  404. 
Cyclopean    (XL) :    A   Titanic   or    Cyclopean  style.      SWINBURNE, 

Mis.,  p.  98. 

Cynical  (XIV.) :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  75. 

Dainty  (XXII.)  b  :  Whipple  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  250. 
Daring  (XII.) :  Bryant  to  present. 

Their  style  becomes  free  and  daring.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  62. 
Dark  (III.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

The  sense  is  hard  and  dark.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  269. 
Dazzling  (V.) :  Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  413;  Gosse,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  135. 
Debased  (XIV.):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  251. 
DECENT  (IV.). 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  term  "decent"  indicated  the  absence  in  a  compo- 
AS  moral  and  sition  of  startling  incongruities,  which  gave 

artistic  pro- 
priety, offence    to    what    may    be    called   the    moral 

sense  of  order  and  symmetry  in  literature.  "Decent" 
was  a  less  technical  term  than  "  decorum,"  and  more 
inclusive  in  its  meaning.  The  presence  or  absence  of 
decency  in  a  composition  was  determined  by  "  some 
instinct  or  genius,"  or  by  the  known  truth  or  fact,  or 
by  well-established  literary  principles  and  precepts  de- 
rived from  past  usage. 

The  Greeks  call  this  good  grace  of  everything  in  its  kind  TO  Trpenbv, 
the  Latins  decorum;  we  in  our  vulgar  call  it  by  a  scholastic 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       81 

term,  decency,  our  own  Saxon  English  term  is  seemliness,  that 
is  to  say,  for  his  good  shape  and  utter  appearance  well  pleasing 
the  eye,  we  call  it  also  comeliness.  1585.  PUTTENHAM, 
p.  268. 

Still  methinks  that  in  all  decency  the  style  ought  to  conform  with 
the  nature  of  the  subject,  otherwise  if  a  writer  will  seem  to  ob- 
serve no  decorum  at  all.  ID.,  p.  163. 

Apt  and  decent  framing  of  words.     1586.     WEBBE,  p.  38. 

Of  the  indecencies  of  an  heroic  poem,  the  most  remarkable  are 
those  that  show  disproportion  either  between  the  persons  and 
their  actions,  or  between  the  manners  of  the  poet  and  the  poem. 
1650.  HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  454. 

A  poet  ought  always  to  have  that  instinct  or  some  good  genius 
ready  to  serve  his  hero  upon  occasion,  to  prevent  these  unpleas- 
ant shocking  indecencies.  RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  64. 

Sentiments  which  raise  laughter  can  very  seldom  be  admitted  with 
any  decency  into  an  heroic  poem,  whose  business  is  to  excite 
passions  of  a  much  nobler  nature.  1711.  ADDISON,  III., 
p.  188. 

It  is  for  the  most  part  in  our  skill  in  manners,  and  in  the  observ- 
ances of  time  and  place, 'and  of  decency  in  general,  which  is 
only  to  be  learned  in  those  schools  to  which  Horace  recom- 
mends us,  that  what  is  called  taste,  by  way  of  distinction  con- 
sists. 1756.  BURKE,  I.,  p.  63. 

The  following  is  indecently  hyperbolical :  — 
To  see  this  fleet  upon  the  ocean  move, 
Angels  drew  wide  the  curtains  of  the  skies,  etc. 

1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  317. 

Occasionally  throughout  the  whole  history  of  the 
term,  and  especially  during  the  present  century,  "  de- 
cent" has  indicated  an  absence  of  moral 

As  moral 

licentiousness  in  the  literary  representation.  P^P^ty- 
Like  the  term  "  purity,"  it  has  been  appropriated  for 
the  expression  of  the  growing  sense  of  morals  in  lit- 
erature.    It  has,  however,  been   less   in  use  than  for- 
merly when  given  a  more  technical  significance. 


82     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Indecency  of  wounding  women  (on  the  stage).     1670.     DRYDEN, 

IV,  p.  230. 

Otway's  "  Orphan  "  is  the  work  of  a  man  not  attentive  to  decency, 
nor  zealous  for  virtue ;  but  of  one  who  conceived  forcibly,  and 
drew  originally,  by  consulting  nature  in  his  own  breast.  1781. 
S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  176. 

Since  the  time  of  Addison  .  .  .  the  open  violation  of  decency  has 
always  been  considered  among  us  as  the  mark  of  a  fool.     MA- 
CAULAY,  III.,  p.  454. 
Decisive  :  Whip,  to  present. 
Declamation  (XIX.):  J.  War.  to  present. 

Highly  figurative;  almost  bombastic.  A  question- 
able and  rare  form  of  literary  excellence. 

Declamation  overlays  and  strangles  poetry,  and  disfigures  even 
satire.  LANDOK,  V.,  p.  116. 

The  change  from  jog-trot  commonplace  to  almost  inspired  decla- 
mation.    SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  214. 
Decorative  (V.)  :  Sted.,  Swiu. 

Decoration  ...  is  attractive,  but  least  artistic  and  least  proper  to 
poetry.  ARISTOTLE,  Poetics,  p.  25. 

In  works  of  the  imagination  .   .  .  the  use  of  decorations  may  be 
varied  a  thousand  ways  with  equal  propriety.     S.  JOHNSON,  II., 
p.  115. 
DECORUM  (IV.). 

The  term  "  decorum/'  until  within  the  early  portion 
of  the  present  century,  indicated  the  action  of  a  re- 
AS  moral  fined  and  conservative  moral  sense  within 

refinement  in 

literature.  the  ethical  circle  of  literary  sympathy. 
Hence  it  referred  primarily  to  the  literary  represen- 
tation  of  characters,  of  their  moral  deportment,  and 
of  the  incidents  related  of  them.  Only  very  incident- 
ally did  the  term  refer  to  the  ^language  of  a  literary 
work.  In  theory  "decorum"  was  sometimes  said  to 
be  determined  by  an  instinct  or  intuition  of  the  mind; 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        83 

but  in  actual  criticism  it  was  at  best  an  instinctive 
conformation  to  the  well-established  usages  or  conven- 
tions of  good  society  and  of  good  literature. 

They  use  one  order  of  speech  for  all  persons,  a  gross  indecorum. 
1578.  WHEATSTONE,  I.,  p.  204. 

Spenser's  due  observing  of  decorum  everywhere,  in  personages,  in 
season,  in  matter,  in  speech,  and  generally  in  all  seemly  sim- 
plicity of  handling  his  matter  and  framing  his  words.  1580. 
WEBBE,  p.  53. 

So  to  intermingle  merry  jests  in  a  serious  matter  is  an  indecorum. 
GASCOIGNE,  p.  32. 

I  will  as  near  as  I  can  set  down  which  matters  be  high  and  lofty, 
which  be  but  mean,  and  which  be  low  and  base,  to  the  intent 
the  styles  may  be  fashioned  to  the  matters,  and  keep  their  de- 
corum and  good  proportion  in  every  respect.  1585.  PUTTEN- 
HAM,  p.  162. 

This  lovely  conformity  or  proportion  or  convenience  between  the 
sense  and  the  sensible  hath  nature  herself  first  most  carefully 
observed  in  all  her  own  works,  then  also  by  kind  graft  it  in  the 
appetites  of  every  creature  working  by  intelligence  to  covet  and 
desire ;  and  in  their  actions  to  imitate  and  perform,  and  of  man- 
cine  fly  before  any  other  creature  as  well  in  his  speeches  as  in 
every  other  part  of  his  behavior.  And  this  in  generality  and 
by  a  usual  term  is  that  which  the  Latins  call  decorum.  ID., 
p.  269. 

(Of  a  sister's  voluntarily  consenting  to  incest)  nothing  could  be 
invented  more  opposite  to  all  honesty,  honour,  and  decorum. 
RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  pp.  69,  70. 

Decorum  of  the  stage.     1670.     DRYDEN,  IV. 

The  venustum,  the  honestum,  the  decorum  of  things  will  force  its 
way.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  108-. 

There  is  an  impropriety  and  indecorum  in  joining  the  name  of  the 
most  profligate  parasite  with  that  of  an  apostle.  1756.  J. 
WARTON,  II.,  p.  315. 

During  the  present  century,  "decorum"  has   fallen 
so  much   out  of  favor  that  it   is   not  even  used  as   a 


84     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

retrospective   term.     It   usually   denotes   a   conformity 
AS  moral  and  ^n   literature   to    conventions    of   all  kinds, 


an  utter  lack  of  spontaneity  and  original  en- 

in  literature.  .  ...  T,     a 

ergy    m   a   composition.     It   has   been  very 
little  in  use. 

The  details  are  lost  or  shaped  into  flimsy  and  insipid  decorum. 

1825.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  102. 

Defective  (XXII.)  a:  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  213. 
Definite  (III.):  T.  War.  to  present. 

Concrete  and  definite  imagery  ...  of  Blessed  Damozel.     PATER, 

Ap.,  pp.  215,  216. 
Delicacy  (XXII.)  b  :  Put.  to  present. 

Refined  sensibility;  an  airy  gracefulness,  the  result 
of  fineness  rather  than  strength  of  feeling. 

The  meter  of  six  syllables  is  very  sweet  and  delicate.     PDTTEN- 

HAM,  p.  84. 

Delicate,  classical,  and  polislied.     BRYANT,  I.,  p.  53. 
The  poetic  faculty  always  has  for  its  basis  a  peculiar  temperament, 
an  extraordinary  delicacy  of  organization,  and  susceptibility  to 
impressions.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  107- 
Delicious  (XXII.)  b\  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  3. 
Delightful   (XXII.)  b  :   Hazlitt  to   present.      Hazlitt,    Sp.   of  Age, 

p.  315. 

Delusive  (VIII.)  :  J.  Wilson,  VII.,  p.  314. 
Dense  (XL)  :  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Juvenal's  dense  and  full-bodied  lines.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve, 

p.  28. 
Depth  (XIII.)  b  :  Ascham  to  present. 

That  which  gives  evidence  of  real  and  essential 
truth,  of  penetration  and  insight  into  the  unifying 
principles  of  separate  facts  and  details. 

Acuteness  of  remark  or  depth  of  reflection.     MILTON,  III.,  p.  498. 
More  truth  of  character,    more   instinctive   depth  of  sentiment. 
HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  96. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        85 

Depth  and  clearness;   a  clearness  that  shows  depth.     LANDOR, 

II.,  p.  415. 
Goethe    combines  .  .  .  Trench    clearness    with    English   depth. 

CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  55. 
Design  (XXIII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

A  conscious  plan  or  purpose,  or  elaborated  method  of 
composition. 

Design  and  artifice.     PRYDEN,  II.,  p.  288. 

There  is  no  uniformity  in  the  design  of  Spenser :  he  aims  at  the 
accomplishment  of  no  one  action.     ID.,  XIII.,  p.  17. 

Without  design ;  in  which  the  essence  of  humor  consists.     HURD, 

II.,  p.  38. 
Desultory  (XVIII.):  Jef.  to  present. 

Desultory  and  rambling.     WILSON,  VI.,  p.  238. 
Detailed  (VIII.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Dramatic  power  of  detail.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  74. 
Detestable  (XXII.) b\  Gosse,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  85. 
Device  (XXIII.) :  Gas.  to  present. 

An  invention ;  a  fancy  ;  an  ingenious  ornament. 

Beautify  the  same  with  brave  devices.     WEBBE,  p.  36. 
Whatever  devise  be  of  rare  invention  they  term   it   fantastical. 

PUTTENHAM,    p.    34. 

Furnish  your  imagination  with  great  store  of  images  and  suitable 

devices.     SWIFT,  IX.,  p.  189. 
Dexterity  (V.)  b  :  Nash  to  present. 

Peele's  .  .  .  pregnant  dexterity  of  wit  and  manifold  dexterity  of 

invention.     1589.     NASH,  in  Lit.  Centuria,  II.,  p.  238. 
Dictatorial :  Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  94. 
DIDACTIC  rXXI.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Poetry  written  with  the  evident  purpose  of  inculcat- 
ing some  moral  lesson.  A  retrospective  term,  referring 
to  the  poetry  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

What  is  didactic  poetry  ?  .  .  .  The  predicate  destroys  the  subject. 
.  .  .  No  poetry  can  have  the  function  of  teaching  .  .  .  only  as 


86      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

nature  teaches,  as  forests  teach,  .  .  .  viz.  by  deep  impulse,  by 
hieroglyphic  suggestion.     DE  QUINCE Y,  XI.,  p.  88. 
The  didactic  ...  is  a  lower  kind  of  poetry.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr. 

Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  139. 
Classical,  didactic,  and  anti-romantic.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  15. 
Difficult  (III.)  :  Chan,  to  present. 

Difficult  and  abstract.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  281. 
Diffuse  (XIX.)  :  Swift  to  present.  Hazlitt,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  204. 
DIGNITY  (XL). 

The  word  "  dignity "  represents  great  energy  and 
strength  of  personal  character,  which  is  at  the  same 

AS  regulated    time  controlled  and  regulated  by  a  firm  self- 
metrical 
movement.      restraint.      As    a   critical    term,    "  dignity," 

previous  to  the  present  century,  was  thought  to  con- 
sist chiefly  in  the  restraint  and  regulation  of  energy. 
Occasionally  the  term  denoted  a  stately  regularity  of 
metrical  movement. 

The  shortness  of  verse  and  the  quick  returns  of  rhyme  debase  .  .  . 
the  dignity  of  style.     1693.     DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  112. 

Often  the  word  denoted  a  uniform  seriousness  of  tone 
in  a  composition.  This  meaning,  which  occasionally 
AS  seriousness  occurs  throughout  the  whole  history  of  the 
of  thought,  term,  places  it  in  alliance  with  the  tragic, 
and  in  opposition  to  the  comic. 

Dignity  of  tragedy  .  .  .  elegance  of  comedy.      1638.     MILTON, 

III.,  p.  498. 

Dignity  and  state  of  an  heroic  poem.     1669.     DRYDEN,  IV.,  p.  22. 
Dignity  of  tragedy.     1711.     POPE,  VI.,  p.  128. 
Wit  should  be  used  with  caution  in  works  of  dignity,  as  it  is  only 

at  best  an  ornament.     1759.     GOLDSMITH,  II.,  p.  357- 
Dignity  truly  Pindarick.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  38. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        87 

During  the  present  century,  the  term  "dignity" 
usually  denotes  a  certain  equipoise  of  thought  and 
simplicity  of  statement  which  spring  from  a  AS  regulated 

strength  and 

consciousness   oi   great  power,  and   a  regti-  energy, 
lated  and  restrained  use  of  that,  power. 

Moral  dignity.     LAMB,  Elia,  p.  286. 

Dignity,  —  from  finite  standard  of  the  Greeks  (as  against  sublim- 
ity).   COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  29. 
Dignity,  —  from  sobriety  and  greatness  of  mind.     MACAULAY,  I., 

p.  38. 

Severe  dignity  of  style.     Do.,  p.  26. 
Dignity,  —  from  simplicity.     WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  245. 
Dignity  of  poise.     LOWELL,  O.  E.  D.,  p.  37- 
Digression  (XIII.)  :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 
Dilatation    (XIX.)  b:    Spenser's   dilatation  is  not  mere   distension. 

LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  331. 
Dilation  (XIX.)  b:  Milton's  power  lay  in  dilation.     LOWELL,  Prose, 

IV.,  p.  84. 
Dilletantesque  (VII.)  :  Poe  to  present. 

Having  a  sporadic  interest  in  many  diverse  things  ;  an 
extensive  rather  than  an  intensive  method  of  apprecia- 
tion. Lack  of  earnestness  and  organic  development. 

Two  kinds  of  dilettanti  .  .  .  says  Goethe  ...  he  who  neglects 
the  indispensable  mechanical  part,  and  thinks  he  has  done 
enough  if  he  shows  spirituality  and  feeling ;  and  he  who  seeks 
to  arrive  at  poetry  merely  by  mechanism,  in  which  he  can 
acquire  an  artizan's  readiness,  and  is  without  soul  and  spirit. 
M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es.,  p.  503. 

Petrarch  ...  is  a  moral  dilettante.     LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  253. 
Dilution  (XIX.) :    De  Quiucey  to  present.      Swinburne,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  251. 
Dim  (III.):  Lamb,  Swin. 

Your  obscurity  is  not  the  dimness  of  positive  darkness,  but  of 

distance.     LAMB,  Letters,  II.,  p.  80. 
DIRECT  (XVIIL). 


88      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  use  of  the  term  "direct"  is  confined  almost 
exclusively  to  the  present  century,  and  during  the  last 
AS  intellectual  few  decades  it  has  come  to  be  of  consider- 

unsuperflu- 

ousness.  able  prominence  in  criticism.  "Directness" 
represents  both  a  method  of  thinking  and  a  form  of 
feeling.  These  are  both  present  in  every  use  of  the 
term,  but  now  one  preponderates  and  now  another. 
Often  "directness"  denotes  for  the  most  part  mere 
logical  closeness  and  severity  of  thought ;  an  intellec- 
tual simplicity  and  unsuperfiuousness  of  style. 

Direct  and  explicit.     GRAY,  1.,  p.  403. 

Simplicity  and  directness.     1816.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  448. 

Directness   and  clearness   of  speech.      M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es., 

p.  211. 
The  thought  deep,  lucid,  direct.     1867.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  126. 
The  direct  intelligence  of  simple  reason.     1872.     ID.,  p.  28. 

Often  the  term  signifies  for  the  most  part  a  sincere 
AS  emotional  openness  of  emotional  expression,  —  a  sin- 

unsuperllu- 

ousness.  cerity  so  immediate  and  energetic  that  at 
times  it  becomes  blunt  and  unrefined. 

Keen  sincerity  and  direct  force.     1870.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  89. 
There  is  a  seeming  artlessness  in  Lodge's  sonnets,  a  winsome 

directness.     1874.     MINTO,  Char,  of  Eng.  Poets,  p.  198. 
It  was  thought  that  the  old  direct  manner  of  speaking  was  crude 

and  futile.     1885.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.  to  Pope,  p.  10. 
A  direct  statement  through  its  truth,  often  has  exceeding  beauty, 

—  the  beauty,   pathetic   or  otherwise,  of  perfect   naturalness. 

1892.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  193. 
Discord  (X.)  :  Saints.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  141. 
Discriminative    (XX.)£:    Jef.  to   present.     Dowden   St.   in  Lit., 

p.  208. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.    89 

Discursive  (XIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

The   discursive  and   decorative   style   of  Spenser.     SWINBURNE, 

Mis.,  p.  10. 

Discu table  (VIII.)  :  H.  James,  p.  376. 
Disjointed  (XIII.)  :  Haz.,  Saints. 

Lumbering  and  disjointed.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  214. 
Dislocated :  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  101. 
Dissonance  (X.)  -.  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  114. 
Distinct  (III.)  : '  Mil.  to  present. 

The  term  refers  primarily  to  mental  imagery.  It 
denotes  deftniteness  in  the  different  images, —  a  defi- 
niteness,  however,  which  is  not  abstracted  and  isolated 
enough  to  be  inconsistent  with  an  intense  unifying 
emotion  or  feeling  in  the  literary  production. 

In  Ossian  ...  I  knew  that  the  imagery  was  spurious.     In  nature 
everything  is  distinct,  yet  nothing  defined  into  absolute  inde- 
pendent singleness.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  122. 
In  Scott  .  .  .  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  is  not  equal  to  the  dis- 
tinctness of  the  imagery.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  174. 
Distinction  (IX.)  :  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Originality  or  distinction.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  92. 
Distinguished  (XXIL),  cf.   (XIX.):    Cole,  Gosse.     Coleridge,   III., 

p.  462. 
Distorted  (II.):  Distorted  and  exaggerated  picture.     JEFFREY,  III., 

p.  100. 

Diverse  (XIII.):  Collier  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  141. 
Diverting  (XVII.):  Hal.,  Mor.,  Gosse.     Hallam,  III.,  p.  328. 
Divine  (XXII.)  b:  Add.  to  present.     Addison,  III.,  p.  188. 
Doggerel  (XXII.)  £:  Put.  to  present. 

Dissonant  doggerel.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  114. 
DRAMATIC  (XXI.). 

The  term  "dramatic"  represents  in  a  composition 
that  which  is  fit  to  be  acted  ;  in  the  author,  tko_power_ 

of  losing  his  personality  in   a   full  realization    of   the 
motives,  and  actions  of  others;    but  the  unifying-  con- 


90      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

ception  of  the  term  comes  from  the  effect  which  the 
drama  produces  upo^  the_£fiadeJi_Qr_ hearer.  The  term 
usually  charactizes  those  forms  of  literature  other  than 
the  drama  which  produce  an  effect  upon  the  mind  of 
the  reader  similar  to  that  of  the  drama  itself.  It  rep- 
resents character  portrayal,  in  which  the  incidents  are 
intensified,  animated,  vivid,  and  striking.  Occasion- 
ally the  term  is  employed  to  distinguish  between  those 
parts  of  dramatic  composition  which  conform  to  these 
essential  requirements,  and  those  parts  which  do  not. 

Dramatic  poetry  .  .  .  history  made  visible.     BACON,  IV.,  p.  315. 
As  the  Iliad  was  written  while  his  spirit  was  in  its  greatest  vigour, 
the  whole  structure  of  that  work  is  jiramatic  and  full  of  action. 
POPE,  etc. 

Shut,  shut  the  door,  good  John  (fatigued  I  said), 
Tie  up  the  knocker ;  say  I  Jin  sick,  I  'm  dead.     (Pope.) 
This  abrupt  exordium  is  animated  and  dramatic.     J.  WARTON, 

II.,  p.  208. 
Bold,  dramatic  transitions  of  Shakespeare's  blank  verse.    HAZLITT, 

Eng.  Poets,  pp.  56,  57- 
The  dramatist  must  .  .  -~-kee.r)  himself  out  of  sight  and  let  nothing 

appear  but  his  characters.     MACAULAY,  L,  p.  24. 
In  the  abstract,  Dramatic  is  thought  or  emotion  in  action,  or  on  its 
way  to  become  action.     In  the  concrete,  it  is  that  which  is  more 
vivid  if  represented  limn  described,  and  jwhich  would  lose  if 
merely  narrated.     LOWELL,  O.  E.  D.,  p.  25. 
Drawling:  Wilson,  II.,  p.  85. 

Dreamy:  Jef.,  Mor.     Dreamy  and  abstracted.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  376. 
Dreary  (XXII.)  6:  Swin.  to  present,     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  133. 
Drivelling  (XL):  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  82. 
Droll  (XVII.) :  Rymer  to  present. 

Drollery  arises  where  the  laughable  is  its  own  end,  —  neither  infer- 
ence or  moral  being  intended.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  275. 
Dry  (XV.),  cf.  (XVI.  and  XVIL):  Ascham  to  present. 

An  apparent  want  of  spirit,  feeling,  and  penetration. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.        91 

Dry,  hard,  and  barren  of  effect.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  207. 

Thoreau's  dry  humor.     BURROUGHS,  Birds  and  Poets,  p.  61. 

A  certain  coldness  or  dry  ness  in  the  tone.     T.  ARNOLD,  Hist., 

etc.,  p.  604. 

Dry-stick  (XVII.) :  Hunt.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eug.  Lit.,  p.  257. 
Ductile  (XVIII.)  :  Jef.,  Whip.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  194. 
Dull  (XX.)  b  :  Mil.  to  present. 

Locke's  style  ...  is  bald,  dull,  plebeian.     SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr. 

St.,  p.  xxiv. 
Earnest  (XIV.)  :  Lamb  to  present. 

In  considerable  use :   usually  opposed  to  formal  re- 
finement and  polish. 

The  primary  virtues  of  sincerity,  earnestness,  and  a  moral  interest 
in  the  main  object.  WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  54. 

Decorum   gives  place  to  earnestness.      T.  ARNOLD,  Man.,  etc., 

p.  418. 
EASY  (XVIII.). 

Previous  to  the  present  century,  there  were  two  more 
or   less    distinct    uses    of    the   term   "easy."  As 
Often  it  was  very  nearly  if  not  quite  iden-  cmty* 
tical  in  meaning  with  clearness  and  perspicuity. 

Easy  and  plain  composition.     TH.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  178. 
History  .  .  .  aims  at  easiness  and  perspicuity.     1699.     BENTLEY, 

I.,  p.  360. 
Perspicuous  and  easy.     1778.     T.  WARTON,  Hist.  E.  P.,  p.  965. 

More  often  "  easy "  denoted  a  general  facility  in  com- 
position, the  result  of  extensive  training  and 

As  ijicility. 

practice;  if  applied  to  versification  it  might 
result  from  the  form  of  verse  chosen. 

Rhyme,  — that  vulgar  and  easy  kind  of  poetry.     CAMPION,  p.  232. 

The  great  easiness  of  blank  verse  renders  the  poet  too  luxuriant ; 
he  is  tempted  to  say  many  things  which  might  better  be  omit- 
ted, or  at  least  shut  up  in  fewer  words.  1664.  DRYDEN,  II., 
p.  138. 


92      A  HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

When  they  had  so  polished  their  piece,  and  rendered  it  ...  natu- 
ral and  easy.  SHAETESBURY,  I.,  p.  183. 

True  ease  in  writing  conies  from  art,  not  chance.  1711.  POPE, 
II.,  p.  56. 

Whatever  is  done  skilfully  appears  to  be  done  with  ease.  1751. 
S.  JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  80. 

During  the  present  century  "ease"  has  represented 
a  certain  general  efficacy  of  statement  rather  than 
mere  fluency  or  clearness.  The  author  must 
be  master  of  the  thought  that  he  wishes  to 
express ;  he  must  use  words  and  methods  of  expres- 
sion as  familiar  as  is  consistent  with  an  adequate  rep- 
resentation of  the  subject ;  and  to  do  this  there  is 
required  both  acquired  skill  and  native  power  and 
ability.  When  applied  to  the  versification,  "ease" 
denotes  smoothness  and  efficiency,  the  result  of  prac- 
tice and  of  the  native  sense  of  rhythm  and  harmony. 

Ease  and  simplicity  are  two  expressions  often  confounded  and 
misapplied.  We  usually  find  ease  arising  from  long  practice, 
and  sometimes  from  a  delicate  ear  without  it;  but  simplicity 
may  be  rustic  and  awkward,  of  which  there  are  innumerable 
examples  in  Wordsworth's  volumes.  1826.  LANDOR,  IV., 
p.  61. 

If  by  classical  is  meant  ease,  precision,  and  unsupernuousness  of 
style.  1848.  HUNT,  A  Jar  of  Honey,  p.  158. 

A  French  lightness  and  ease  of  expression.  1843.  WHIFFLE,  Es. 
&  Rev.,  p.  16. 

Too  much  consideration  is  unfavorable  to  the  ease  of  letter- writing, 
and  perhaps  of  all  writing.  1855.  B  AGE  HOT,  I.,  p.  253. 

A  feminine  ease  and  grace.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  131. 

Familiar  words  make  a  style  frank  and  easy.     ID.,  p.  283. 

The  seventeenth  century  critics  .  .  .  associated  and  confounded 
ease  of  composition  with  shallowness  of  endowment,  and  a 
stock  of  classical  phraseology  with  creative  power.  1884.  T. 
ARNOLD,  Man.  of  Eug.  Lit.,  p.  280. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.        93 

Ebullient  (XII.)  :    Effusive  and  ebullient.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  271. 

Eccentric  (II.) :  Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  278. 
Eclectic  (XIII.)  :  Gosse,  Pater. 

Of  eclecticism,  we  have  a  justifying  example  in  one  of  the  first  poets 

of  our  time,  —  Tennyson.    PATER,  Ap.,  p.  13. 

Ecstasy  (XV.)  :  Ros.,  Gosse.    Rossetti,  Lives  of  Famous  Poets,  p.  60. 
Edge  (XX.)  b :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  303. 

Effeminate  (XII.)  :  Gosson  to  present.     S.  Johnson,  V.,  p.  133. 
Effete  (IV.)  :  Swin.,  Gosse.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  86. 
Efficacy  (XXII.)  :  Camden  to  present. 

Skill,  variety,  efficacy,  and  sweetness,  the  four  material  points  re- 
quired in  a  poet.     CAMDEN,  p.  337. 
Effortless  (VII.)  :  Wilson,  X.,  p.  180. 
Effusive  (XIX.)  b  :  Dow.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  69. 
Egotism  (XIV.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  110. 
Elaborate  (V.)  :  Heywood  to  present. 

Not  spontaneous;  that  which  is  consciously  designed 
and  attained. 

Cultivate   simplicity,  banish  elaborateness.      LAMB,   Letters,   I., 

p.  46. 

Goldsmith  wrote  with  elaborate  simplicity.     JEFFREY,  I.  p.  166. 
The   delicate   touch   of   the   true   humorist  ...  is   alien  to   De 
Quincey's   more  elaborate   style.      STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib., 
L,  p.  376. 

Elastic  (XVIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  250. 
Elegiac  (XXI.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Dante's  "  Inferno  "...  not  sublime  enough  to  be  tragic,  and  not 

pathetic  enough  to  be  elegiac.     T.  ARNOLD,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Lit., 

p.  498. 

ELEGANCE  (V.). 

"  Elegance "  in  rhetorical  theory  is  considered  as  one 
of  the^three  or  four  essentialsjof  style.     In  actual  criti- 
cism  its   history   may    be   divided  into    two  Ag  general 
periods.      Until   near   the   beginning   of  the  SSSSit1^ 
present  century,  "elegance"  indicated  a  gen- 


94     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

eral  exaltation  of  style  out  of  the  vulgar  and  common- 
place, by  means  of  refined  diction,  poetical  figures  of 
speech,  and  scholaxly^allusion.  The  term  is  found 
placed  in  antithesis  to  "dignity,"  to  the  "strong  and 
solemn,"  to  the  "sublime,"  and  to  the  "beautiful." 
"Elegance"  thus  represented  the  lighter  graces  of 
speech,  which  are  the  result  of  fanciful  ingenuity, 
rather  than  the_m.Qre  essential  qualities  of  style,  which 
rest  primarily  upon  the  thought  and  the  artistic  con- 
ception of  the  literary  work. 

Elegancies  result  from  metaphor  constructed  on  similar  ratios,  pro- 
portion, and  from  personification.     ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  p.  239. 
A  fiction  of  one  of  the  later  poets  is  not  inelegant :  He  feigns  that 
at  the  end  of  the  thread  or  web  of  every  man's  life,  there  hangs 
a  little  medal  or  collar,  on  which  his  name  is  stamped.     BACON, 
IV.,  p.  307. 
I*ropriejffinust  fiiaLbe  stated,  ere  any  measures  of  ejegance  can  be 

taken.    1679.    DRYDEN,  VI.,  p.  251. 
Elegance  and  grace.     1756.     J.  WAKTON,  I.,  p.  334. 
The  nameless  and  inexplicable  elegancies,  which  appeal  wholly  to 
the  fancy,  from  which  we  feel  delight  but  know  not  how  they 
produce  it.     1751.     S.  JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  432. 
Though  the  following  lines  of  Donne  .  .  .  have  something  in  them 
scholastic,  they  are  not  inelegant : 

This  twilight  of  two  years,  not  past  nor  next, 
Some  emblem  is  of  me  or  I  of  this, 
Who  meteor-like  of  stuff  and  form  perplexed, 
Whose  what  and  where  in  disputation  is. 

1781.     ID.,  VIL,  p.  19. 

Those  happy  combinations  of  words  which  distinguish  poetry  from 
prose  had  been  rarely  attempted.  We  had  few  elegancies  or 
flowers  of  speech.  1781.  ID.,  VII.,  p.  308. 

During   the   present    century    "elegance"   has   been 
employed  to  a  certain  extent  as  a  retrospective  term, 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        95 

and  has  not  been  held  in  very  high  favor.     It  is  sup- 
posed to  result  from  an  elaborate  use  of  the  fancy, 
use  so  elaborate  as  to  negate  the  higher  pos-  As  elal)orate 
sibilities  of  poetry.     "Elegance"  thus  signi-  brmiailcy- 
fies  a  certain  studied  brilliancy,  primarily  of  the  lan- 
guage, secondarily   of  the  thought,  the   evident   result 
of  lightness  of  fancy  rather  than  depth  of  thought  or 
feeling. 

An  inelegant  cluster  of  "withouts."  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV., 
p.  386. 

Romantic  grace  and  classic  elegance.  1820.  HAZLITT,  Age  of 
Eliz.,  p.  116. 

(Of  Yoltaire)  That  the  deeper  portion  of  our  soul  sits  silent  un- 
moved under  all  this ;  recognizing  no  universal  beauty,  but  only 
a  modish  elegance,  less  the  work  of  a  poetical  creation  than  a 
process  of  the  toilette,  need  occasion  no  surprise.  1829.  CAR- 
LYLE,  II.,  p.  167. 

(Of  Captain  Hall)  There  is  such  a  pleasure  in  listening  to  his  ele- 
gant nothings.'  POE,  I.,  p.  355. 

Elegant ...  is  not  in  the  nomenclature  of  the  Lake  School.  Since 
dealing  .  .  .  with  the  essential  principles  of  human  nature,  that 
school  had  no  room  .  .  .  for  those  minor  contrivances  of  thought 
and  language,  which  are  necessary  to  express  the  complex  accu- 
mulation of  little  feelings,  the  secondary  growth  of  human  emo- 
tion. 1857-  BAGEHOT,  II.,  p.  272. 

Wit,  ingenuity,  and  learning  in  verse,  even  elegancy  itself,  though 
that  comes  nearest,  are  one  thing :  true  native  poetry  is  another. 
1871.     (Quoted  from  Philipps.)     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  2. 
Elevation  (XL) :  Dry.  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  A  sublimation  or  heightening  of  ordi- 
nary language. 

I.  Previous  to  the  present  century,  by  means  of 
metrical  and  rhetorical  expedients. 

Expedients  for  elevation  of  style,  —  1.  Definition  instead  of  single 
name,  etc.  ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  pp.  222,  223. 


96      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Poetry  ...  an  elevation  of  natural  dialogue.      GOLDSMITH,   I., 

p.  339. 
Cowley  considered  the  verse  of  twelve  syllables  as  elevated  and 

majestic.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  55. 

II.  During  the  present  century,  " elevation"  has 
usually  been  supposed  to  spring  from  the  passion,  feel- 
ing, or  thought  expressed. 

The  elevation  of  tone  arises  from  the  strong  mood  of  passion 

rather  than  from  poetical  fancy.     SCOTT,  Life  of  Swift,  p.  453. 
Milton's  elevation  clearly  comes  in  the  main  from  a  moral  quality 

in  him,  — his  pureness.     M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es.,  etc.,  p.  202. 
Elliptical  (XIX.)  b:  Hal.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  206. 
Elocution  (VI.)  :  Webbe  to  Dryden. 

Used  chiefly  in  theory.  It  was  a  technical  expres- 
sion, denoting  the  choice  of  words,  the  selection  of 
language  for  a  thought  already  apprehended  and  ar- 
ranged. Occasionally  the  term  represented  merely  the 
rhetorical  enhancement  of  the  thought. 

Elocution,  or  the  art  of  clothing  and  adorning  thought,  already 
found  and  varied,  in  apt,  significant,  and  sounding  words. 
DRYDEN,  IX.,  p.  96. 

Elocution  and  artifices.     ID.,  XV.,  pp.  304,  305. 

Lively  images  and  elocution.     ID.,  V.,  p.  120. 
ELOQUENCE  (VI.). 

The  term  "eloquence"  has  usually  been  closely  sy- 
nonymous with  the  term  "poetical."  Like  the  "poeti- 
AS  strong  cal,"  "eloquence"  in  early  criticism  tended 
feeling.  to  represent  a  heightening,  and  hence  a  fal- 
sification of  the  truth;  later,  an  "imitation  of  nature;" 
and  in  the  present  century,  impassioned  imagination. 
But  these  different  uses  and  changes  of  meaning  in 
the  term  "eloquence"  were  not  as  marked  as  in  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        97 

term  "poetical,"  and  may  be  classed  together  as  repre- 
senting an  impassioned  and  elevated  method  of  expres- 
sion, as  strength  rather  than  delicacy  of  poetic  feeling. 

I  hold  eloquence  venerable  and  even  sacred  in  all  its  departments ; 

in  solemn  tragedy  ...  in  the  majesty  of  the  epic,  the  gayety  of 

the  lyric  muse,  the   wanton  elegy,  the  keen  iambic,  and  the 

pointed  epigram.     TACITUS,  II.,  p.  401. 
Cato  .  .  .  had  more  truth  for  the  matter  than  eloquence  for  the 

style.     ASCHAM,  p.  156. 
Doubtless  that  indeed  according  to  art  is  most  eloquent  which 

turns  and  approaches  nearest  to  nature.     MILTON,  III.,  p.  100. 
Plato  is  most  celebrated  for  imagination,  and  for  an  eloquence 

highly  poetical.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  149. 
Eloquence  of  impassioned  thought  finding  vent  in  vivid  imagery. 

LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  p.  124. 

In  theory  at  least,  however,  the  "  poetical "  and  the 
"eloquent"  have  occasionally  been  distinguished  from 

each  other.     Modern  eloquence  is  not  natu-    . 

As  a  height- 
rally  so  poetical   as  was   ancient  eloquence,  S^JS^jj!04 

When  it  becomes  elevated,  it  usually  gives  s 
the  effect  of  rhetorical  heightening  rather  than  of  sin- 
cere and  native  feeling. 

Ancient  eloquence  was  sublime,  passionate;  modern  eloquence  is 

argumentative,  rational.     HUME,  I.,  p.  172. 

Poetry  sprang  from  ease,  and  was  consecrated  to  pleasure,  whereas 
eloquence  arose  from  necessity,  and  aims  at  conviction.  GOLD- 
SMITH, I.,  p.  341. 

It  is  the  fault  of  the  day  to  mistake  mere  eloquence  for  poetry ; 
whereas  in  direct  opposition  to  the  conciseness  and  simplicity  of 
the  poet,  the  talent  of  tjie_orator  consists  in^making  much  of_a_ 
.  simple  idea.     NEWMAN,  Es.  on  Aristotle,  p.  18. 
Emasculate    (XII.) :    Smooth,  emasculated  lyrics.      GOSSE,  Seven- 
teenth Cent.  St.,  p.  201. 
Embellished  (V.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

.    7 


98     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Embroidered  (V.) :  Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  412. 
Emotion  (XV.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Recently  in  considerable  use.  The  term  usually 
represents  a  mental  excitation,  which  is  less  intense 
and  active  than  passion,  and  more  so  than  feeling. 

True  emotion  is  emotion  ripened  by  a  slow  ferment  of  the  rnind 
and  qualified  to  an  agreeable  temperance  by  that  taste  which  is 
the  conscience  of  polite  society.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  252. 

His  idealism  does  not  consist  in  conferring  grandeur  upon  vulgar 
objects  by  tinging  them  with .  the  reflection  of  deep  emotion. 
STEPHEN,  Hrs  in  a  Lib.,  I.,  p.  280. 

Poetic  passion  is  intensity  of  emotion.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry, 

p.  261. 
Emphatic  (XII.). 

That  which  by  any  means  has  been  made  more  strik- 
ing than  ordinary  composition.  This  result  is  usually 
brought  about  by  figurative  language;  and  the  "em- 
phatic" and  the  "poetical"  are  occasionally  found 
associated  with  each  other. 

Emphasis,  or  what  in  an  artist's  sense  giics..relief.to  a_pas.sage, 

causing  it   to  stand  forward  and  in  advance  of  what  surrounds 

it,  —  that   is  the  predominating  idea  in  the,  "sublime"  of  Lon- 

ginus.     DE  QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  301. 
Poetical  .  .  .  that   is   figurative   and   emphatic.       HALLAM,    II., 

p.  207. 
Poetry  should  be  memorable  and  emphatic,  intense  and  soon  over. 

BAGEIIOT,  Lit.  St.,  II.,  p.  352. 
Style  .  .  .  consists  mainly  in  the  absence  of  undue  emphasis  and 

exaggeration.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  353. 

Enchanting  (XXII.)  b  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  56. 
Eiiergia  (XII.)  :  Sid.  to  present. 

Energia  of  poets  lies  in  high  and  hearty  invention.     (Quoted  from 

Chapman.)     STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  18. 
ENERGY  (XII). 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.        99 

Previous  to  the  present  century,  the  term  "  energy," 
much  like  the  Greek  evepyeta,  signified  a  general  vivid- 
ness in  composition,  which  manifested  itself  AS  vividness 

and  effective- 
ill  both  the  thought  and  the  language.      As 


applying  to  the  language  of  a  composition,  "  energy  " 
was  manifested  in  the  sound,  in  the  meter,  in  rhyme, 
in  the  general  diction  and  choice  of  words,  and  in 
smoothness  and  ease  of  comprehension.  When  the 
term  apparently  refers  wholly  to  the  language,  it  per- 
haps often  applies  by  figure  of  speech  to  the  thought 
also.  As  applying  to  the  thought  of  a  composition, 
"energy"  was  said  to  spring  from  concreteness,  from 
distinctness,  from  dramatic  power,  and  from  brevity. 

If  indeed  they  feel  those  passions,  it  may  easily  be  betrayed  by 
that  same  forcibleness  or  energeia  (as  the  Greeks  call  it)  of  the 
writer.  1583.  SIDNEY,  p.  52. 

From  burning  suns  when  livid  deaths  descend, 
When  earthquakes  swallow,  or  when  tempests  sweep 
Towns  to  one  grave,  whole  nations  to  the  deep.     (Pope.) 
I  quote  these  lines  as  an  example  of  energy  of  style.     1756.    J. 

WARTON,  II.,  p.  65. 

The  foundations  for  a  nervous  or  a  weak  style  are  laid  in  an  author's 
manner  of  thinking.  If  he  conceives  an  object  strongly  he  will 
express  it  with  energy.  BLAIR,  Rhet.,  p.  199. 

During  the  present  century,  the  term  "energy"  has 
almost  uniformly  referred  to  the  active  creative  process 
in  the  mind  of  the  poet.  It  denotes  delicacv  AS  strength 

.    .  .  of  artistic 

as  well  as  vividness  01  conception  and  ex-  impulse, 
pression ;    it   represents   the   most   primal   and   funda- 
mental activity  of  the  artistic  impulses  and  instincts. 

Motives  are  symptoms  of  weakness  and  supplements  for  the  defi- 
cient energy  of  the  living  principle,  the  law  within  us.  1825. 
COLERIDGE,  I.,  p.  166. 


100       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Byron  possessed  the  soul  of  poetry  which  is  energy.  1826.  LAN- 
DOR,  IV.,  p.  43. 

For  one  effect  of  knowledge  is  to  deaden  the  force  of  the  imagina- 
tion and  the  original  energy  of  the  whole  man.    1846.    RUSKIN, 
St.  of  Yen.,  II.,  p.  56. 
Genius  is  mainly  an  affair  of  energy,  and  poetry  is  mainly  an  affair 

of  genius.     1865.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  50. 
No  poet,  perhaps,  is  so  evidently  filled  with  a  new  and  sacred  en- 
ergy when  the  inspiration  is  upon  him  (as  Wordsworth).     M. 
ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  155. 

Chaucer's  descriptive  style  is  remarkable  for  its  lowness  of  tone, 
—  for  that  combination  of  energy  with  simplicity  which  is  among 
the  rarest  gifts  in  literature.     1870.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  353. 
Engaging  (XXII.)  b :  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  326. 
English    (I.):    Keats'    "Ode    to    Nightingale"  .  .  .  fresh,    genuine, 

and  English.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  386. 

Entertaining  (XXII.)  b\  Haz.,  Gosse.  Hazlitt,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  315. 
ENTHUSIASM. 

The  term  "enthusiasm"  has  varied  more  as  to  the 
favor  with  which  it  has  been  received  than  as  to  the 
AS  the  pas-  meaning  which  has  been  iriven  to  it.  It  has 

sionately 

fanciful.  always  represented  an  excited  state  of  the 
feelings,  a  passionate  devotion  to  a  purpose  or  ideal. 
But  until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
this  passion  or  feeling  was  thought  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  calm  apprehension  and  presentation  of  truth. 
"Enthusiasm"  represented  a  moral  quality,  having  some 
justification  for  its  existence,  which,  however,  in  liter- 
ature produced  nothing  but  wild  and  incoherent  fancies. 

Poetry  is  the  language  of  enthusiasm  .  .  .  guard  against  what 
savours  of  poetry.  ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  pp.  222,  226. 

Good  humour  is  not  only  the  best  security  against  enthusiasm,  but 
the  best  foundation  of  piety  and  true  religion.  SHAFTESBURY, 
I.,  pp.  16, 17. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS.       101 

Inspiration  is  a  real  feeling  of  the  divine  presence,  and  enthusiasm 

a  false  one.     ID.,  p.  40. 
True  poetry  .  .  .  cannot  well  subsist  .  .  .  without  a  tincture  of 

enthusiasm.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  317. 

Since  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  enthusiastic  has  been  closely  synonymous  with  the 
impassioned.  It  represents  moral  sincerity  AS  the  sym- 

_  pathetic  and 

and   intense  energy  combined,  to   a  certain  impassioned, 
extent  at  least,  with  poetical  passion  and  feeling. 


Enthusiastic  and  meditative  imaginationj^oeticalj  as  contradistin- 
guished from  human  andj dramatic jimaffination.  WORDSWORTH, 
II.,  p.  139. 

There  is  no  enthusiasm,  no  energy,  no  condensation,  nothing  which 
springs  from  strong  feeling,  nothing  which  tends  to  excite  it. 
MACAULAY,  IV.,  p.  391. 

Enthusiasm  sublimates  the  understanding  into  imagination.     LOW- 
ELL, Lit.  Es.,  I,,  p.  196. 
Enthusiastic  (XV.)  :  Shaftes.  to  present. 
Ephemeral  (XI.)  :  Poe.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  43. 
Epical  (XXL):  Lowell. 

Used  little  in  theory,  and  perhaps  not  at  all  as  an 
active  critical  term. 

The  Spanish  tragedy  inclines  more  towards  the  lyrical,  the  French 

toward  the  epical.     LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  128. 
Epigrammatic  :  Camden  to  present. 

Usually  regarded  as  a  low  form  of  literary  composition. 

Little  fanciful  authors  and  writers  of  epigram.  ADDISON,  II., 
p.  374. 

Alexander's  Feast  concludes  with  an  epigram  of  four  lines ;  a  spe- 
cies of  wit  as  flagrantly  unsuitable  to  the  dignity,  and  as  foreign 
to  the  nature,  of  the  lyric,  as  it  is  of  the  epic  muse.  J.  WARTON, 
I,  p.  60. 


102       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Equable  (XIX.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Equable  flow  of  the  sentiments.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  EL,  p.  56. 
That  monotonous  equability,  that  often  wearies  us  in  more  pol- 
ished poetry.     HALLAM,  II.,  p.  232. 
Equality  (II.):  Dry.  to  present. 

I  have  not  everywhere  observed  the  equality  of  numbers  in  my 
verse  .  .  .  because  I  would  not  have  my  sense  a  slave  to  sylla- 
bles. DRYDEN,  III.,  p.  379. 

Hazlitt  is  one  of  the  most  absolutely  unequal  writers  in  English ; 
with  him  the  inequality  is  pervading,  and  shows  itself  in  his 
finest  passages.     SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  137. 
Equanimity    (XIX.)  :    Equanimity  of  conscious  and   constantly  in- 
dwelling power  .  .  .  Wordsworth  had  not.     LOWELL,  Prose,  VI., 
p.  109. 
Erotic  (XV.)  :  Shel.  to  present. 

Erotic  delicacy  in  poetry  .  .  .  correlate  with  softness  in  statuary. 
-      SHELLEY,  VII.,  pp.  118,  119. 
Erratic  (II.)  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  284. 
Erudite  (XX.)  :  Gosse,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  182. 
Ethereal  (XXII.)  b:  Whip,  to  present. 

There  is  something  a  little  too  ethereal  in  all  this.     M.  ARNOLD, 

Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  285. 

Ethos  (VI.) :  Dry.  to  present.     (See  "  Characters  "  and  "  Manners/') 
Euphuism:  Whip,  to  present. 

Has  not  been  applied  to  literature  enough  to  be  given 
a  definite  meaning.  The  affectation  of  ardent  and 
useless  feelings.  Chiefly  a  retrospective  term,  refer- 
ring to  certain  foreign  imitations  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth. 

In  the  romances  of  Greene  and  Lodge  we  have  Euphuism  as  an 
affectation  of  an  affectation.  WHIPPLE,  Lit.  of  Age  of  El., 
p.  253. 

Belated  euphuism.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  39. 
Evanescent  (XI.)  :  Ros.,  Gosse. 

Spontaneous  and  evanescent  beauties  ...  of  the  best  romantic 
poetry.  GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  24. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      103 

Even  (II.) :  Put.  to  present. 

Even  and  harmonious  excellence.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  136. 
Everydayness  :  Lowell,  Prose,  III.,  p.  111. 
EXACT  (VIII.)- 

Usually  the  term  "exact"  has  indicated  a  careful 
and  studied  method  of  expression,  the  chief  emphasis 
being  placed  upon  the  use  of  language  and  ^  accuracy 
the  mechanical  construction  of  the  compo-  ° 
sition.  This  use  of  the  term  was  especially  marked 
previous  to  the  present  century. 

Little  exactnesses  in  translating.     POPE,  VIII. ,  p.  107- 
To  make  our  poetry  exact  there  ought  to  be  some  stated  mode  of 
admitting  triplets  and  alexandrines.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  347- 
Where  there  is  laxity,  there  is  inexactness.     LANDOR,  V.,  p.  109. 

Occasionally   the   term   denotes   definiteness    in    the 
use    of    imagery,    and    accuracy   in    the    sc-  As  logical 
quence  of  thought  in  a  composition. 

An  attempt  to  unite  order  and  exactness  of  imagery  with  a  subject 
formed  on  principles  so  professedly  romantic  and  anomalous  is 
like  giving  Corinthian  pillars  to  a  Gothic  palace.  T.  WARTON, 
Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  p.  261. 

Intellectual  exactness  of  statement.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  20. 

Occasionally,  also,    exactness    indicates    a  As  c 
scrupulous    accuracy   to   the    details    of    the  to  fact- 
facts  represented. 

This  exactness  of  detail  .  .  .  gives  an  appearance  of  truth.     HAZ- 

LITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  159. 
Exaggerated  (VIII.)  :  Bacon  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  An  overstatement  of  the  facts,  which, 
however,  in  a  mild  form,  as  poetical  emphasis,  has  usu- 
ally been  regarded,  in  theory  at  least,  as  possessing 
positive  literary  merit. 


104       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  chief  power  of  an  orator  lies  in  exaggeration  and  extenuation. 

QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  108. 
Characters  in  poetry  may  be  a  little  overcharged  or  exaggerated 

without  offering  violence  to  nature.     GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  339. 
Exaggeration  and  as  a  result  coldness  of  sentiment.     MACAULAY, 

IV.,  p.  380. 
The  imagination  is  an  exaggerating  and  exclusive  faculty.     HAZ- 

LITT,  III.,  p.  50. 

Exalted  (XI.) :  J.  War.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  12. 
Excellent  (XXI.):  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  165. 
Excessive  (VIII.) :  Hume  to  present.     Rossetti,  Lives,  etc.,  p.  106. 
Excitement:  Intensity  and  excitement  in  expression.     GOSSE,  Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  57. 

Excrementitious  (VII.) :  Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  287- 
Excursive  (XIIL) :  Jef.,  Saints.     Jeffrey,  L,  p.  391. 
Exhaustive  (XXII.)  :  Swin.,  Saints.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  57. 
Exotic  (VII.) :  Gib.,  Jef.,  Saints. 
Expansive  (XIII.)  b:  Haz.  to  present. 

Meditative  expansiveness  ...  of  Bacon.     WHIFFLE,  Lit.  of  Age 

of  El.,  p.  337. 

Explicit  (III.)  :  Gray.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  26. 
Expressive :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Burns'  letters  .  .  .  simple,  vigorous,  expressive.      CARLYLE,  II., 

p.  12. 
Exquisite  (XXII.)  b  :  Rymer  to  present. 

In  this  fable  .  .  .  there  is  hardly  anything  more  exquisite  and 

more  perfect  than  history.     RYMER,  1st  Ft.,  pp.  57,  58. 
Extraordinary  (IX.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 
Extravagant  (XIX.)  b  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  An  overstrained  use  of  figurative 
language,  or  an  extremely  exaggerated  method  of  pre- 
senting facts. 

Which  the  glad  saint  shakes  off  at  his  command, 
As  once  the  viper  from  his  sacred  hand.     (Waller.) 

This  is  extravagant.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  211. 

This  extravagant  and  absurd  diction.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  103. 

A  delicate  sense  of  humor  .  .  .  the  best  preservative  against  all 
extravagance.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  295. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       105 

Exuberance  (XL)  b  :  Mil.  to  present. 

The  remedy  for  exuberance  is  easy ;  barrenness  is  incurable  by  any 

labor.     QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  106. 
Chasten  the  exuberance  of  conceit  and  fancy.     SHAFTESBURY,  I., 

p.  131. 

Exultation:  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  164. 
FABLE  (VI.)  :  Put.  to  beginning  of  nineteenth  century. 

Used  in  theory  as  a_correlate  expression  to  charac- 
ters, manners,  sentimejxL^and  style.  Mechanically  con- 
sidered, it  represented  the  plot  construction,  more 
essentially  the  story_  or  fiction  embodied  in  a  literary 
production.  The  fable  was  usually  regarded  as  in 
itself  poetical.  This  was  the  epic  conception  of  poetry  , 
The  schematizing  influence  of  the  term,  or  at  least  of 
the  idea  which  it  represents,  is  found  throughout  dra- 
matic criticism,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  criticism 
of  the  novel  also. 

The  fable  and  fiction  is,  as  it  were,  the  form  and  soul  of  any  poet- 
ical work  or  poem.     B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  73. 
Fable  though  the  ^foundation  ...  is  not  the  chief  thing,  since 
pity  and  terror  will  operate  nothing  on  our  affections  except  the 
characters,  manners,  thoughts,  and  words  are  suitable.     DRY- 
DEN,  XV.,  pp.  381,  382. 
The  fable  is  properly  the  poet's  part,  since  characters  are  taken 

from  moral  philosophy,  etc.    RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  pp.  86,  87. 
In    poetry,   which    is    all    fable,    truth   still    is    the   perfection. 

SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  pp.  110,  111. 
Facetious  (XXII.)  b :  Wakefield  to  present. 

Facetious  stories.     WAKEFIELD,  in  Lit.  Cen.,  I.,  p.  20. 
Facility  (XVIII.),  cf.  (V.)  b  :    Put.  to  present, 

The  uncommon  union  of  so  much  facility  and  force.     J.  WARTON, 

II.,  p.  267. 

Factitious  (VII.)  :  Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  393. 

Fade  (Fr.)  :  Insipid;  dull.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  350. 
Fair :  Jef.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  289, 


106       A   HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Faithful  (VIII.)  :  T.  War.  to  present. 

Justness   and  faithfulness   of  the   representation.      T.  WARTON, 

Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  p.  34. 
False  (VIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

False  and  hollow.     WILSON,  VII.,  p-.  297- 
Falsetto  (VII.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Coleridge,  VI.,  p.  417- 
Familiar  :  Dry.  to  present. 

At  once  romantic  and  familiar.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p. 

174. 
FANCY  (XXIII.). 

Until  the  present  century,  "fancy"  and  "imagina- 
tion," in  actual  criticism,  were  almost  synonymous 
AS  lightness  expressions.  "  Imagination,"  however,  was 
of  conceit.  often  in  a  vague  manner  the  more  inclusive 
term.  "Fancy,"  when  it  was  not  exactly  synonymous 
with  "imagination,"  maybe  said  to  have  varied  from 
it  in  three  ways :  it  denoted  the  more  wild  and  vagrant 
flights  of  the  imagination ;  or  those  lighter  forms  of 
the  imagination  which  perhaps  aid  in  the  process  of 
composition ;  or  those  far-fetched  combinations  of  ideas 
or  images  which  produce  the  feeling  of  the  ludicrous, 
or  what  was  sometimes  called  "  comical  wit." 

Poetical  fancies  and  furies.     1641.     B.  JONSON,  I.,  p.  201. 

His  sharp  wit  and  high  fancy.     1640.     WALTON,  Lives,  p.  53. 

Eancy  .  .  .  consisteth  not  so  much  in  motion  as  in  copious  im- 
agery discreetly  ordered  and  perfectly  registered  in  the  mem- 
ory. 1650.  HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  449. 

When  fancy  was  yet  in  its  first  work,  moving  the  sleeping  images 
of  things  towards  the  light,  there  to  be  distinguished,  and  then 
either  chosen  or  rejected  by  the  judgment.  1664.  DRYDEN, 
II.,  p.  130. 

In  plotting  and  writing,  the  fancy,  memory,  and  judgment  are 
then  extended,  like  so  many  limbs,  upon  the  rack.  1664.  ID., 
p.  132. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      107 

So,  then,  the  first  Imppiness  of  the  poet's  imagination  is  properly 
iuvention,  or  finding  of  the  thought ;  the  second  is  fancy,  or  the 
variation  deriving  or  moulding  of  that  thought,  as  the  judgment 
represents  it  proper  to  the  subject.  1666.  DKYDEN,  IX., 
p.  96. 

Bnt  how  it  happens  that  an  impossible  adventurer  should  cause 
our  mirth,  I  cannot  so  easily  imagine  ...  its  oddness  ...  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  strange  appetite  of  the  fancy.  1671.  ID., 
Ill,  p.  24L 

Fancy  gives  the  life  touches  and  secret  graces  to  a  poem.  1671. 
ID.,  p.  252. 

Fancy,  I  think,  in  poetry  is  like  faith  in  religion;  it  makes  far 
discoveries,  and  soars  above  reason,  but  never  clashes  or  runs 
against  it.  UYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  8. 

Correct  the  redundancy  of  humours,  and  chasten  the  exuberance 
of  conceit  and  fancy.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  131. 

The  imagination  or  fancy,  which  I  shall  use  promiscuously.  1712. 
ADDISON,  III.,  p.  394 

In  allegory  there  are  always  two  passions  opposing  each  other;  a 
love  of  reality,  which  represses  the  flights  of  fancy,  and  a  pas- 
sion for  the  marvellous,  which  would  leave  reflection  behind 
1759.  GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  pp.  334,  335. 

When  the  reader's  fancy  is  once  on  the  wing,  let  it  not  stoop  at 
correction  and  explanation.  1765.  S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  152. 

Buring  the  present  century,  "  fancy  "  and  "  imagina- 
tion "  have  been  sharply  distinguished  from  each  other, 
"fancy"  denoting  that  method  of  combining  AS  lightness 

of  imagina- 

ideas  or  images  which  .is  intermediate  be-  tive  activity, 
tween  the  method  of  imagination  on  the  one  hand  and 
of  conceit  on  the  other.  "Fancy,"  considered  as  a 
mental  process,  represents  the  rapid  play  of  the  mind 
in  search  of  unwonted  combinations,  which,  often  by 
revealing  essential  likenesses  in  ideas  or  images  that 
were  thought  to  be  unrelated  to  one  another,  impercep- 
tibly shades  into  the  imagination.  Considered  as  a 


108       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

completed  product,  "  fancy  "  denotes  such  combinations 
of  mental  elements  as  neither  having  any  direct  anal- 
ogy in  actual  life,  nor  possessing  sufficient  aesthetic 
beauty  to  be  taken  up  into  ideals,  arouse  no  passion  or 
intense  feeling,  and  find  their  artistic  justification  only 
in  a  certain  delicacy  of  conception,  which  easily  shades 
into  over-refinement  and  conceit. 

Things  that  come  from  the  heart  direct,  not  by  the  medium  of 
the  fancy.  1796.  LAMB,  Letters,  I.,  p.  18. 

Fancy,  the  faculty  of  bringing  together  images  dissimilar  in  the 
main  by  some  one  point  or  more  of  likeness,  as  in  such  a  pas- 
sage as  this:  — 

Full  gently  now  she  takes  him  by  the  hand, 
A  lily  prisoned  in  a  pail  of  snow. 

1810.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  48. 

Fancy  has  no  other  counters  to  play  with  but  fixities  and  defi- 
nites.  The  fancy  is  indeed  no  other  than  a^mode  of  memory 
emancipated  from  the  order  of  time  and  space,  .  .  .  while  it,  is 
blended  with  and  modified  by  that  empirical  phenomenon  of  the 
will  which  we  express  by  the  word  choice.  But  equally  with  the 
ordinary  memory  the  fancy  must  receive  all  its  materials  ready, 
made  from  the  law  of  association.  1817.  COLERIDGE,  III., 
p.  364. "" 

All  the  fancies  that  fleet  across  the  imagination,  like  shadows  on 
the  grass  of  the  tree-tops,  are  not  entitled  to  be  made  small  sep- 
arate poems  of  about  the  length  of  one's  little  finger.  (Of  Ten- 
nyson's early  poems.)  1832.  WILSON,  VI.,  p.  151. 

Imagination  belongs  to  Tragedy  or  the  serious  muse ;  Fancy  to  the 
comic.  1844.  HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy,  p.  26. 

Wit  ...  is  fancy  in  its  most  wilful,  and,  strictly  speaking,  its 
least  poetical  state.  1846.  HUNT,  Wit  &  Humour,  p.  8. 

Fancy  ...  is  related  to  color;  imagination  to  form.  1876. 
EMERSON,  Let.  &  Soc.  Aims,  p.  33. 

The  fancy  of  young  poets  is  apt  to  be  superabundant.  It  is  the 
imagination  that  ripens  with  the  judgment,  and  asserts  itself  as 
the  shaping  power  in  a  deeper  sense  than  belongs  to  it  as  a  mere 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      109 

maker  of  pictures  when  the  eyes  are  shut.     LOWELL,  Rep.  Men, 
p.  116. 

The  Rape  of  the  Lock  ranks  by  itself  as  one  of  the  purest  works 
of  human  fancy ;  whether  that  fancy  be  strictly  poetical  or  not  is 
another  matter.  1871.  LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  36. 
The  distinction  between  fancy  and  imagination  is,  in  brief,  that 
fancy  deals  with  the  superficial  resemblances,  and  imagination 
with  the  deeper  truths  that  underlie  them.  1879.  STEPHEN, 
Hrs.  in  a  Library,  p.  203. 

Imagination  and  fancy  are  both  intellectual  faculties,  and  the  main 
function  of  both  is  to  detect  and  exhibit  the  resemblances  which 
exist  among  objects  of  sense  or  intelligence.    1884.    T.  ARNOLD, 
Hist,  of  Eng.  Lit,,  p.  558. 
Fantastic  (II.) :  Webbe  to  present. 

Though  not  fantastical  and  full  of  love   quirks   and  quiddities. 

1588.     MUNDAY,  Har.  Mis  ,  IV.,  p.  220. 

Little  niceties  and  fantastical  operations  of  art.     POPE,  X.,  p.  532. 
The  fantastic  is  dangerously  near  to  the  grotesque,  while  the  im- 
agination, where  it  is  most  authentic,  is  most  serene.     LOWELL, 
O.  E.  D.,  p.  71. 
Fantasy  (XXIII.)  :  Camden  to  present. 

Fantasy,  the  image-making  power,  common  to  all  who  have  the 

gift  of  dreams.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  31. 
Farce  (XXI.)  :  Hurd  to  present 

Farce  .  .  .  object  merely  to  excite  laughter.     HUKD,  II.,  p.  30. 
The  "Taming  of  the  Shrew"  for  its  extravagance  ought  rather  to 

be  called  a  farce  than  a  comedy.     HUNT,  Wit  &  H.,  p.  117. 
Far-fetched  (IV.)  :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

Jejune,  far-fetched,  and  frigid.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  211. 
Far- sought  (VII  )  :  Far- sought  phrase  of  literary  curiosity.    LOWELL, 

Prose,  II.,  p.  106. 
Fascinating  (XXII.)  b  :  Hal.  to  present.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  102. 
Fashionable  ( IV.) :  Jef.  to  present.     Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St., 

p.  278. 

Fast:  Straight,  fast,  and  temperate  style.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  204. 
Fastidious  (IV.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  165. 
Faultless  (XXII.)  :  Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  288. 


110       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Fecundity  (XVI.)  :  Whip.,  Low. 

Fecundity  of  invention.     LOWELL,  Prose,  VI.,  p.  134. 
Feeble  (XII.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

A  feeble,  diffuse,  showy,  Asiatic  redundancy.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of 

Age,  p.  204. 
FEELING  (XV.). 

The  term  "feeling"  has  grown  rapidly  in  use  during 
the  present  century.  It  indicates  a  certain  delicacy  of 
mental  response  or  of  susceptibility  to  the  full  meaning 
of  the  given  facts  of  experience,  and  an  equal  delicacy 
and  susceptibility  in  blending  these  given  facts  with  the 
aesthetic  intuitions  and  ideals  of  the  mind.  In  so  far 
as  "feeling"  merely  responds  to  the  given  facts  of  ex- 
perience, it  often  seems  to  be  wholly  passive  and  to 
become  allied  to  taste  and  to  the  proprieties.  But  in 
so  far  as  it  denotes  susceptibility  in  blending  these 
given  facts  with  ideals,  it  is  active,  and  is  allied  to 
sympathy  and  the  imagination.  "  Feeling,"  thus  rep- 
resenting a  general  susceptibility  in  the  mental  organ- 
ism, is  a  fundamental  capacity,  is  always  genuine,  is 
never  merely  fancied  or  assumed.  Hence  it  is  occa- 
sionally made  to  stand  merely  for  earnestness  and 
sincerity. 

We  can  always  feel  more  than  we  can  imagine,  and  the  most  art- 
ful fiction  must  give  way  to  truth.  1753.  S.  JOHNSON,  IV., 
p.  79. 

Pathos  and  feeling.     1778.     T.  WARTON,  p.  661. 

That  same  equipoise  of  the  faculties,  during  which  the  feelings  are 
representative  of  all  past  experience.  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV., 
p.  75.  * 

Mere  peculiarity  of  taste  or  feeling.    1810.    JEFFREY,  III.,  p.  292. 

Vague  and  unlocalized  feelings,  the  failing  too  much  of  some 
poetry  of  the  present  day.  1818.  LAMB,  Elia,  p.  293. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       Ill 

It  may  be  interesting  to  you  to  pick  out  some  lines  from  Hyperion, 
and  put  a  X  to  the  false  beauty  proceeding  from  art,  and  an  || 
to  the  true  voice  of  feeling.  1819.  KEATS,  Letters,  p.  321. 

In  poetry  .  .  .  strong  feeling  is  always  a  sure  guide.  It  rarely 
offends  against  good  taste,  because  it  instinctively  chooses  the 
most  effectual  means  of  communicating  itself  to  others.  1825. 
BRYANT,  L,  p.  10. 

(To  W.  R.  Hamilton.)  Your  verses  are  animated  with  true  poetic 
spirit,  as  they  are  evidently  the  product  of  strong  feeling.  1827. 
WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  293. 

These  old  songs  (of  Burns')  were  his  models,  because  they  were 
models  of  certain  forms  of  feeling  having  a  necessary  and  eternal 
existence.     1841 .     WILSON,  VII.,  p.  100. 
Felicity  (IV.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  That  which  is  happy  and .  well  chosen 
in  composition,  the  result  of  the  most  delicate  and 
instinctive  sense  of  propriety. 

What  instinctive  felicity  of  versification.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  24. 

The  felicity  and  idiomatic   naivete  ...  of  Walton.     MATHEWS, 

Lit.  St.,  p.  7. 
Feminine  (XII.)  :  Car.  to  present. 

Feminine  vehemence.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  122. 

A  feminine  intensity.  DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  408. 
Ferocious  (XII.)  :  Jef.  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  281. 
Fertility  (XVI.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Uniformly  associated  with  the  more  active  artistic 
impulses  and  processes,  with  energy,  suggestion,  fancy, 
invention,  and  imagination. 

Fertility  of  invention.     T.  WARTON,  p.  978. 

Fertility  of  fancy.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  42. 

Fertile  imagination.     SCOTT,  Life  of  Dryden,  p.  12. 
Fervent  (XV.)  :  Camp,  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Fervor  (XV.)  :  Swin.     Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  225. 
Feverish  (XV.)  :  Stephen,  Swin. 
FICTITIOUS  (VIII.). 


112       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

"Fiction,"  or  the  "fictitious,"  has  been  regarded  by 
the  critics  in  two  different  senses.  Occasionally  the 
AS  poetical  term  has  indicated  the  poetical  heightening 
int'  or  enhancement  of  the  facts  or  historical 
truth  represented.  This  use  of  the  term  occurs  chiefly 
in  theoretical  discussions,  and  is  uniformly  given  a 
positive  and  favorable  literary  significance. 

Two  requisites  of  universal  poetry,  namely,  that  license  of  expres- 
sion which  we  call  the  style  of  poetry,  and  that  license  of 
representation  which  we  call  fiction.  The  style  is,  as  it 
were,  the  body  of  poetry,  fiction  is  its  soul.  HUHD,  II.,  pp. 
10,  11. 

Fiction  in  poetry  is  not  the  reverse  of  truth,  but  her  soft  and  en- 
chanted companion.  CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  327. 

As  usually  employed  in  actual  criticism,  however, 
"fiction"  is  by  no  means  necessarily  in  alliance  with 
Asanimagi-  the  "poetical."  It  represents  an  imaginary 

nary  series 

of  events.  series  of  events,  which,  previous  to  the  pres- 
ent century,  was  looked  upon  with  more  or  less  disfa- 
vor as  a  falsification  of  the  truth,  but  which  in  the 
present  century  has  usually  been  regarded  as  a  health- 
ful form  of  literary  art,  and  thus  as  constituting  a  class 
or  species  of  literature. 

There  are  some  that  are  not  pleased  with  fiction,  unless  it  be 
bold ;  not  only  to  exceed  the  work,  but  also  the  possibility  of 
nature.  1650.  HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  451. 

Where  there  is  leisure  for  fiction  there  is  little  grief.  S.  JOHNSON, 
VII.,  p.  119. 

The  monstrosities  of  fiction  may  be  found  in  the  bookseller's  shops 
.  .  .  but  they  have  no  place  in  literature,  because  in  literature 
the  one  aim  of  art  is  the  beautiful.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S., 
p.  292. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       113 

Fidelity  (VIII.) :  T.  War.  to  present. 

In  translating  a  poetical  writer,  there  are  two  kinds  of  fidelity  to 
be  aimed  at:  fidelity  to  the  matter  and  fidelity  to  the  manner  of 
the  original.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  417. 
Fidelity  to  the  essential  truth  of  things.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  73. 

Fierce  (XII.) :  Jef.,  Swin. 

Fiery  (XII.)  :  Sted.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  7. 
FIGURATIVE  (VIII.). 

Until  within  the  eighteenth  century,  figurative  lan- 
guage was  usually  regarded  as  an  ornamented  falsifi- 
cation of  the  truth,  the  source  at  once  of 

.  As  ornament, 

aesthetic  pleasure  and  of  the  most  puzzling 

uncertainty  and  obscurity. 

This  ornament  is  given  by  figures  and  figurative  speeches.  PUT- 
TENHAM,  p.  150. 

Shakespeare's  whole  style  is  so  pestered  with  figurative  expres- 
sions, that  it  is  as  affected  as  it  is  obscure.  DRYDEN,  VI., 
p.  255. 

Occasionally,  —  especially  during   the   latter   half   of 
the   eighteenth   century,  —  the   "  figurative  "  As  tne  poeti_ 
and  the  "  poetical "  have  been  more  or  less  c  ' 
completely  identified  with  each  other. 

Poetical,  that  is  highly  figurative  expression.     HURD,  I.,  p.  102. 
Poetical  .  .  .  that  is  figurative   and   emphatic.     HALLAM,  II.,  p. 

207- 

Usually,  however,  —  especially  during  the  present 
century,  —  the  "figurative"  represents  viv-  AS  vividness 

J '  of  imagina- 

idness   of   mental  imagery  and  intensity  of  tion. 
imaginative  power,  which  is  of  itself  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily poetical.     (See  "  Poetical.") 


114       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Tully  and  Demosthenes  spoke  often  figuratively  but  not  poetically, 
and  the  very  figures  of  oratory  are  vastly  different  from  those  of 
poetry.  POPE,  VIII.,  p.  218. 

To  say  that  a  man  is  a  great  thinker  or  a  fine  thinker,  is  but  an- 
other expression  for  saying  that  he  has  a  schematizing  (or,  to 
use  a  plainer  but  less  accurate  expression,  a  figurative)  under- 
standing.    DE  QUINCE Y,  X.,  p.  115. 
Figured   (V.) :    "Figured  or  poetical    expressions.      JEFFREY,   I.,   p. 

223. 
Filthy  (XIV.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Coarse  and  filthy.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  219. 
Final  (XXI.)  :  Swin.,  Min.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  165. 
Fine  (XXII.)  b :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

Raleigh's  Cynthia  ...  a  fine  and  sweet  invention.     HARVEY,  in 

Marlowe's  Shak.  by  Boswell,  II.,  p.  579. 
Finery  (V.)  :  Byron  to  present. 

It  is  in  their  finery  that  the  new  school  is  most  vulgar.     1821. 

Life  and  Letters,  p.  507. 
Finesse  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Delicacy  and  finesse.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  370. 

All  beauty  is  in  the  long  run  only  finesse  of  truth.     PATER,  Ap., 

p.  6. 

Finical  (V.)  :  Jef,  Haz.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  222. 
Finished  (V.)  :  Camp,  to  present. 

That  which  gives  evidence  both  of  careful  execution 
and  of  good  taste. 

The  early  productions  of  Pope  were  perhaps  .  .  .  too  finished, 

correct,  and  pure.    J.  WARTON,  I,  p.  83. 
Greene  ...  is  sometimes  more  laboured  than  finished.     HUNT, 

Wit  &  Humour,  p.  308. 

The  poetry  of  Gray  is  finished,  perhaps  I  should  rather  say  lim- 
ited.    LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es,  p.  16. 
Fire  (XII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Fire  and  force.     GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  183. 
Firm  (XI.)  :  Haz.  to  present,     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J,  p.  65. 
Fitful  (II.)  :  Broken  or  fitful.     Swinburne,  Mis,  p.  237. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       115 
Fitness  (IV.) :  Ascham  to  present. 

Used  very  little  during  the  eighteenth  century.  Adap- 
tation of  the  elements  of  composition  to  one  another :  a 
popular  expression  for  the  term  "  propriety,"  considered 
in  a  somewhat  mechanical  sense. 

Fitness  of  character  .  .  .  woman  must  be  woman,  etc.     ARIS- 
TOTLE, Poetics,,  p.  47. 

Pleased  with  a  work  where  nothing  's  just  or  fit.    POPE,  II.,  p.  50. 

There  is  a  fitness  and  propriety  in  every  part.  *  LANDOR,  VIII., 

p.  386. 
Flaccid  (XII.)  :  Swin.,'  Gosse. 

Flaccid  and  untunable  verse  of  Byron.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  81. 
Flagging  (XVIII.)  :  Mor.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  86. 
Flagrant :  Hal.,  Gosse. 

Flagrant  absurdity.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  262. 
Flamboyant  (V.)  :  The  flamboyant  style  in  modern  English  prose. 

SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxi. 
Flashy  (V.)  :  Jef.,  Gosse. 

Noisy  and  flashy.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  127. 
Flat  (XII.)  :  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

What  is  flat  ought  to  be  plain.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  64. 
Flavor  (XXII.)  I :  Sted.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  203. 
Flawless  (XXI.)  :  Swin.     Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  259. 
Fleshliness :  Fleshliness  .  .  .  oddly  enough  is  found  in  Wordsworth. 

LOWELL,  Prose  IY.,  p.  371. 

Fleshly:  Fleshly  sculpture.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Fleshy :    We  say  it  is  a  fleshy  style,  carnosa,  when   there  is   much 

periphrasis  and  circuit  of  words.     B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  65. 
Flexible  (XYIII.)  :  S.  John,  to  present. 

Flexible  bucolic  hexameter.     STEDMAN,  Yic.  Poets,  p.  226. 
Flimsy  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Flimsy  and  insipid  decorum.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  102. 
Flippant  (XL)  :  Jef.,  Whip. 

Vulgar  flippancy.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  217. 
Floribund    (V.)  :    Gay  and  floribund.      GOSSE,  From   Shak.,  etc.. 

p.  155. 


116       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Florid  (V.)  :  Shaftes.  to  present. 

This  painted  iiorid  style.     POPE,  VIII.,  p.  219. 

The  groves  appear  all  drest  with  wreaths  of  flowers, 
And  from  their  leaves  drop  aromatic  showers. 
This  is  in  the  florid  style.     SWIFT,  XIII.,  p.  73. 
Floundering  (XVIII.)  :  Swin.,  Saints. 
Flowing  (XVIII.)  :  K.  James  to  present. 

Refers  both  to  the  sounds  and  to  the  thoughts  of  a 
composition. 

Sounds  .  .  .most  flowing  and  slipper  upon  the  tongue.     PUT- 

TENHAM,  p.  129. 

The  equable  flow  of  the  sentiments.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  EL,  p.  56. 
Flowerless  (V.):  Elowerless  and  pallid.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p. 

137. 
Flowery  (V.)  :  Camp,  to  present,     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II., 

p.  48. 
Fluent  (XVIII.)  :  Dekker  to  present. 

The  fluency  which  was  a  besetting  sin  of  Whittier's  poetry,  when 
released  from  the  fetters  of  rhyme  and  meter,  ran  into  wordi- 
ness.    BEERS,  St.  in  Am.  Lit.,  p.  160. 
Fluid  (XVIII.)  :    Fluidity  of  meter.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  124. 
Flute-like  (X.) :  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Clear  flute-like  notes  of  Cynthia.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  56. 

Fluttering :  Light,  airy,  fluttering.     WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II.,  p.  65. 
Folly  (XX.)  :  Pure  childishness  or  mere  folly.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  271. 
Foolish  (XX.)  :  Jef.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  110. 
FORCE  (XII.). 

There  are  no  distinctly  marked  periods  in  the  history 

of  the  term  "force."     Occasionally   "force"   seems  to 

AS  effective-    designate  a  general  efficiency  of  thought  and 

language,  —  an  interesting  thought  treated  in 

accordance  with  the  best  known  rules  of  composition. 

Justness  and  force  of  the  representation.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  285. 
Ease,  force,  and  perspicuity.     HAZLITT,  Table  Talk,  p.  338. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       117 

Often  the  term  "force"  indicates  a  mere  vividness  in 
the  impression  which  the  literary  work  pro- 

*  As  vividness. 

daces  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

Force,  —  from  vivid  imagery.     T.  WARTON,  p.  661 ;  also  BYRON, 

Letters,  p.  501. 
Force,  — from  figures  of  speech.     T.  WARTON,  p.  207- 

More  usually,  however,  —  especially  during  the  pres- 
ent century,  —  "force"  has  been  regarded  as  the  native 
power  of  the  mind,  asserting  itself  in  ways 
which  often  run  counter  to  regular  methods 
of  composition,  which  often,  indeed,  violate  every  canon 
of  artistic  refinement,  and  which  acknowledge  no  law  of 
expression  except  that  which  is  immediately  prompted 
by  the  intensity  of  the  conception,  and  by  the  ethical 
purpose  which  this  conception  is  intended  to  subserve. 

The  uncommon  union  of  so  much  facility  and  force.  1756.  J. 
WARTON,  II.,  p.  267. 

These  monosyllables  have  much  force  and  energy : 
All  good  to  me  becomes 
Bane.     (Milton.)     ID.,  I.,  p.  347- 

Atterbury  .  .  .  writes  more  with  elegance  and  correctness  than 
with  any  force  of  thinking  or  reasoning.  ID.,  II.,  p.  361. 

Force  of  poetry.     1751.     S.  JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  293. 

Intensity  is  the  great  and  prominent  distinction  of  Lord  Byron's 
writings.  He  seldom  gets  beyond  force  of  style,  nor  has  he 
produced  any  regular  work  or  masterly  whole.  1825.  HAZ- 
LITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  124. 

If  by  force  you  mean  beauty  manifesting  itself  with  power,  I  main- 
tain that  the  Abbe  Delille  has  more  force  than  Milton.  (Quoted 
disapprovingly,  as  a  saugrenu  judgment.)  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es., 
1st  S.,  p.  279. 

What  Dryden  valued  above  all  things  was  force,  though  in  his 
haste  he  is  willing  to  make  a  shift  with  its  counterfeit  effect. 
1868.  LOWELL,  III.,  p.  183. 


118       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 
Forced  (VII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

The  strained  and  unnatural;  usually  assumed  to  be 
the  result  of  conscious  effort. 

Forced  and  unnatural.     GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  283. 

A  forced    and  almost    grotesque    materializing  of   abstractions. 

PATER,  Ap.,  p.  232. 
FORM  (II.). 

The  word  "form"  has  been  employed  in  criticism  in 
three  more  or  less  distinct  ways.  Previous  to  the 
AS  verbal  Present  century,  and  in  large  part  during 
expression.  ^s  century,  the  word  has  merely  repre- 
sented the  mechanical  expression  of  thought  in  lan- 
guage, —  punctuation,  capitalization,  the  grammatical 
relations  of  words,  the  construction  of  phrases,  clauses, 
sentences,  paragraphs,  and  perhaps  JJi£  ^rhetorical  re- 
quirements of  c 


What  I  can  say  concerning  our  English  poetry,  first  in  the  matter 

thereof,  then  in  the  form.     WEBBE,  p.  38. 
No  work  of  true  genius  dares  want  its  appropriate  form.     COLE- 

RIDGE, IV.,  p.  54. 

Often  the  term  indicates  that  portion  of  the  mechani- 
cal construction  of  composition  which  answers  more 
AS  the  sense  or  ^ess  Directly  to  the  sense  of  rhythm  and 
proportion  in  the  mind,  —  the  metrical  move- 


ment, the  balance  of  phrases,  clauses,  and 
sentences,  the  harmonious  adaptation  of  all  the  parts 
of  a  composition  to  one  another,  tl^co^j^sjti^j^ 


ever,  being  considered  as  a  completed  product,  and  the 
adaptation  being  determined  entirely,  perhaps,  by_j)ast 
attainment,  by  precedent,  and  by  custom. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL   TERMS.       119 

The  word  Form  lias  also  more  limited  application,  as,  for  example, 
when  we  use  it  to  imply  that  nice  sense  of  proportion  and  adap- 
tation which  results  in  style.  LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  56. 

I  am  not  sure  that  Form,  which  is  the  artistic  sense  of  decorum 
controlling  the  co-ordination  of  parts  and  ensuring  their  harmo- 
nious subservience  to  a  common  end,  can  be  learned  at  all, 
whether  of  the  Greeks  or  elsewhere.  LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es., 
p.  144. 

Occasionally,  in  theory,  if  not  in  applied  criticism, 
the  term  denotes  the  developing  sense  of  beauty  and 
proportion  in  literature,  as  referring  to  the  As  sensibilit 
mechanical  construction  of  the  composition,  of  formal uty 
to  the   picturesque   features  of   the   thought 
presented,  and  perhaps  in  a  measure  to  the  representa- 
tion of  moral  truths  and  principles. 

That  there  is  an  intimate  relation,  or  at  any  rate  a  close  analogy 
between  Form,  in  this  its  highest  attribute,  and  imagination,  is 
evident  if  we  remember  that  the  imagination  is  the  shaping 
faculty.  LOWELL,  O.  E.  D.,  p.  56. 

Formality  (IV  )  :  Jef.  to  present.     Hazlitt,  Sp.  of  Age,  pp.  256,  257. 
Foul  (XIV.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Roderick  Random  ...  so  foul  as  to  be  fit  only  for  a  well-seasoned 

reader.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  259. 
Fragile :  Whip.,  Gosse. 

Fragility  of  Tennyson's  figures.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  341. 
Fragrance   (XXII.)*:    Swin.,  Beers.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  4. 
Frank  (XIV.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Frank  unconsciousness.     LOWELL,  Prose,  I.,  pp.  247,  248. 
Frantic  (XV.)  :  Frantic  invective.     JEFFIIEY,  I.,  p.  217. 
Free  (XVIII.)  :  Rymer  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  Unconstrained  movement.  Usually 
refers  to  the  mechanical  construction  of  composition, 
occasionally  to  the  thought. 


120       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  more  we  attend  to  the  composition  of  Milton's  harmony,  the 
more  we  shall  be  sensible  how  he  loved  to  vary  his  pauses,  his 
measures,  and  his  feet,  which  gives  that  enchanting  air  of  free- 
dom and  wildness  to  his  versification,  unconfined  by  any  rules 
but  those  which  his  own  feelings  and  the  nature  of  his  subject 
demanded.  GRAY,  I.,  pp.  332,  333. 

A  young  writer  can  hardly  afford  to  be  quite  direct  and  free  in  his 
movements,  lest  he  should  be  violent  and  awkward.     DOWDEN, 
St.  in  Lit.,  p.  129. 
Freedom  being  thus  the  dominant  note  of  Elizabethan  poetry.     J. 

SYMONDS,  Es.,  Sp.  &  Sug.,  p.  394. 
Frenzy  (XV.) :  Laboured  frenzy  of  diction.     WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev., 

p.  176. 
FRESH  (IX.). 

The  term  "fresh"  is  largely  negative  in  its  significa- 
tion. That  is  said  to  be  fresh  which  is  in  no  sense 
bookish,  conventional,  or  pedantic.  In  its  positive  sig- 
nificance, the  term  is  uniformly  associated  with  such 
conceptions  as  sincerity,  spontaneity,  energy,  the  im- 
'  passioned,  and  the  romantic. 

Fresh  .  .  .  romantic  spirit.     CAMPBELL,  p.  81. 

Fresh  as  from  the  hand  of  nature.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  104. 

Freshness  of  antiquity.     ID.,  p.  121. 

Fresh  and  lively.     HALLAM,  Lit.  Hist.,  I.,  pp.  130,  131. 

Neither  "eloquence"  nor  "poetry"  are  the  exact  words  with 
which  it  would  be  appropriate  to  describe  the  fresh  stvle  of  the 
Waverley  Novels.  BAGEIIOT,  II. ,  p.  151. 

Chaucer  ...  is  fresh  .  .  .  because  he  sets  before  us  the  world  as 
it  honestly  appeared  to  Geoffrey  Chaucer,  and  not  a  world  as  it 
seemed  proper  to  certain  people  that  it  ought  to  appear.  LOW- 
ELL, III.,  p.  361. 

Bunyan  was  conscious  that  greatness  had  been  thrust  upon  him ; 
and  one  misses  accordingly  in  the  second  part  something  of  the 
delightful,  freshness,  the  naturalness,  the  entire  unconscious  de- 
votion of  heart  and  singleness  of  purpose,  which  are  so  conspic- 
uous in  the  first  part.  T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  of  Eng  Lit.,  p.  320. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL    TERMS.       121 

Fresh  and  almost  childlike.     ID.,  p.  455. 
Natural,  fresh,  and  spontaneous.     BEEIIS,  Outline,  etc.,  p.  90. 
Frigid  (XV.)  :  Mil.  to  present. 

A  lack  of  sincere,  genuine  feeling,  which  may  result 
from  two  causes  :  — 

I.  From  a  total  lack  of  feeling  of  any  kind. 

Over-elaboration  ends  in  frigidity.     LONGINUS,  p.  6. 
Jejune,  far-fetched,  and  frigid.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  211. 
Frigid  and  ridiculous  pedantry.     ID.,  p.  137. 

II.  From  the  affectation  of  too  much  feeling. 

Those  who  express  themselves  with  this  poetic  air,  produce  by 
their  want  of  taste  both  the  ridiculous  and  the  frigid.  AKIS- 
TOTLE,  Rhet.,  p.  216. 

According  to  the  definition  of  Theophrastus,  the  frigid  in  style  is 
that    which   exceeds   the    expression    suitable   to   the   subject. 
GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  378. 
The  frigid  ...  a  failure  to  stir  up  in  the  reader  the  emotions 

affected  in  the  composition.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  36. 
Frigid  fervours  in  poetry.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  63. 
Frippery  (V.) :  Macaulay  to  present.     Whipple,  Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  269. 
Frivolous  (XI.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  479. 
Fruitful  (XVI.)  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.  p.  188. 
Fugitive  (XI.):  Swin.,  Gosse.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  53. 
Full-bodied  (XII.):   Dense  and  full-bodied  lines.      GOSSE,  Life  of 

Congreve,  p.  28. 
Fulness  (XI.)  b :  B.  Jonson  to  present. 

Refers  both  to  the  thought  and  to  the  sound  of  com- 
position. As  referring  to  the  thought,  it  may  indicate 
either  emotional  or  intellectual  affluence  or  copiousness. 

The  verses  .  .  .  sweet,  smooth,  full,  and  strong.     RYMEK,,  3d  Pt., 

p.  79. 
The  violin's  fulness  and  the  violin's  intensity  are  in  the  sonnets 

from  the  Portuguese.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  213. 


122       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Fulsome  (XIV.)  :  Mil.  to  present. 

Fulsome  doggerel.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  211. 
Fusion  (XIII.) :   Ilaz.  to  present. 

The  term  represents  both  logical  and  emotional  co- 
herence and  continuity,  the  blending  of  all  the  elements 
of  a  composition  so  as  to  produce  a  perfect  unity  of 
effect. 

There  is  no  principle  of  fusion  in  the  work.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age, 

p.  179. 

Now  passion,  imagination,  and  will  are  fused  together,  and  Romeo 
who  was  weak,  has  at  length  become  strong.     DOWDEN,  Shak., 
etc.,  p.  118. 
Fustian  ;  (XIX.)  :  Gosson  to  present. 

Fustian  of  Marlowe's  style.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  451. 
Futile  (XXII.)  a  :  Wil.  to  present. 

Weak  and  futile.     WILSON,  VIII.,  p.  17. 
Gallant:  Put.  to  present  century. 

I.  The  excellent ;  noble  ;  aesthetically  good. 
Gallant  verse  ...  of  Phaer.     WEBBE,  p.  34. 

II.  Chivalric;  courteous;  not  really  a  critical  term. 

The  songs  and  smaller  pieces  of  Dryden  have  smoothness,  wit,  and 
when  addressed  to  ladies,  gallantry  in  profusion.     SCOTT,  Life 
of  Dryden,  I.,  pp.  425,  426. 
Gallic  (I.):  Elegancies  of  a  Gallic  style.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

P.  157. 
Garrulity  (XIX.)  b  .  Car.  to  present. 

Sociable  garrulity.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  366. 
Gasping:   Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  76. 
Gaudy  (V.):  Blair  to  present. 

Addison's  style  is  splendid  without  being  gaudy.     BLAIR,  Rhet., 

p.  209. 
Gay  (XIV.):  S.  John,  to  present. 

Gay  and  sportive.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  278. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       123 
Generality  (VIII.)  L\  Swift  to  present. 

Not  usually  regarded  as  conducive  to  the  best  liter- 
ary efi'ects. 

What  distinguishes  Homer  and  Shakespeare  from  all  other  poets  is 

that  they  do  not  give  their  readers  general  ideas  ;  every  image  is 

the  particular  and  unalienable  property  of  the  person  who  uses 

it.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  318. 
Cowley  pursues  his  thoughts  to  the  last  ramifications,  by  which  he 

loses  the  grandeur  of  generality.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  38. 
An  unaffecting  generality.     WILSON,  VIII.  ,  p.  44. 
Generous  (XIV.):  J.  War.,  Swin.     J.  Warton,  II.,  p.  8. 
Genial  (XIV.):  Car.  to  present. 

Where  there  is  genius  there  should  be  geniality.     LANDOR,  IV., 

p.  51. 
Genius  —  that  is,  geniality  —  dwells  in  unnumbered  bosoms.    WIL- 

SON, V.3  p.  352. 
Genius  is  that  mode  of  intellectual  power  which  moves  in  alliance 

with  the  genial  nature.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  382. 
GENIUS  (XXIII.)  . 

The  history  of  the  term  "  genius  "  may  be  divided 
into  four  periods.  During  the  first  period,  which  con- 
tinued until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  ^  native 


century,  "genius"  was  closely  related  in 
meaning  to  the  term  "  nature."  "  Genius,"  however, 
unlike  "  nature,"  denoted  natural  capacity  or  native 
ingenuity,  not  only  as  controlling  the  original  impulse 
or  inception  of  the  literary  work,  but  also  as  entering 
into  every  phase  and  feature  of  the  actual  process  of 
its  composition. 

Betwixt  genius  (acumen)  and  diligence  there  is  very  little  room 
left  for  artjratio)  ;  art  only  shows  you  where  to  look,  and  where 
that  lies  which  you  want  to  find.  CICERO,  Orations,  p.  262. 

A  poet  no  industry  can  niake  if  his  own  genius  be  not  carried  into 


124       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

it.  And  therefore  is  it  an  old  proverb :  Orator  fit,  poeta  nas- 
citur.  1583.  SIDNEY,  p.  46. 

A  poet  ought  always  to  have  that  instinct  or  some  good  genius 
ready  to  serve  his  hero  upon  occasion,  to  prevent  these  unpleas- 
ant shocking  indecencies.  RYMER,  1st  Ft.,  p.  64. 

I  believe  it  is  no  wrong  observation,  that  persons  of  genius,  and 
those  who  are  most  capable  of  art,  are  always  most  fond  of 
nature ;  as  such  are  chiefly  sensible  that  all  art  consists  in  the 
imitation  and  study  of  nature.  1713.  POPE,  X.,  p.  532. 

By  genius  I  would  understand  that  power,  or  rather  those  powers 
of  the  mind  which  are  capable  of  penetrating  into  all  things 
within  our  reach  and  knowledge,  and  of  distinguishing  their 
essential  differences.  These  are  no  other  than  invention  and 
judgment;  and  they  are  both  called  by  the  collective  name  of 
genius,  as  they  are  of  those  gifts  of  nature  which  we  bring  with 

us  into  the  world.     FIELDING,  T.  Jones,  II.,  pp.  5,  6. 

* 

The  second  period  includes  the  last  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  "  Genius "  represented  the  power  of 
AS  original  producing  something  new,  either  as  to  the 
impulse.  thought  or  as  to  the  method  of  expressing 
it.  Hence  "  genius "  stood  opposed  to  the  established 
rules  of  art :  it  was  the  most  general  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  vague  expression  possible  for  the  pro- 
gressive tendencies  in  literature,  and  over  the  more 
specific  terms  which  denoted  these  tendencies  it  exer- 
cised a  strong  schematizing  influence. 

We  see  that  the  most  accurate  observation  of  dramatic  rules  with- 
out genius  is  of  no  effect.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  Pope,  I.,  p.  69. 

By  genius  is  meant  those  excellencies  that  no  study  or  art  can 
communicate,  such  as  elevation,  expression,  description,  wit, 
humour,  passion,  etc.  1758.  GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  418. 

I  am  convinced  that  rules  alone  never  made  a  genius.  Conscious 
I  am  that  all  the  fine  reasoning  and  delicate  remark  that  have 
been  exhausted  of  late  years  upon  this  subject,  are  not  equal  to 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       125 

one  single  scene  dictated  by  a  fine  imagination.     (Quoted  from 

Voltaire.)    ID.,  p.  14. 
Genius  full  of  resources,  master  of  the  rules,  but  master  also  of 

the  reasons  for  the  rules,  often  appears  to  despise  them.     1759. 

GIBBON,  IV.,  p.  45. 
The  highest  praise  of  genius  is  original  invention.      1781.     S. 

JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  142. 

During  the  present  century,  "genius,"  when  referring 
to  a  mental  process,  denotes  both  original  impulse  and 
native  power  in  giving  this  impulse  literary  expression ; 
when  referring  to  the  literary  work  as  a  completed 
product,  it  represents  a  constant  appeal  from  literature 
to  life,  from  established  methods  of  composition  to 
other  possible  methods,  which  have  not  yet  been  at- 
tempted. Moreover,  in  the  present  century,  "  genius " 
indicates  not  simply  impulse  or  native  force,  but  also 
a  certain  refinement  of  force  which  gives  to  it  artistic 
value.  "Genius"  thus  has  at  its  command,  at  least  in 
a  measure,  its  own  laws  of  literary  expression.  It  not 
only  represents  progressive  tendencies  in  art,  but  it 
represents  progressive  tendencies  which  are  organic  in 
their  nature. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  century,  "  genius " 
was  supposed  to  manifest  itself  chiefly  in  an  increase 
of  sensibility  and  in  bold  flights  of  the  irnag-  As  an  artistic 
ination.  It  evolved  its  own  laws  of  art,  and  imPulse- 
it  was  thought  to  be  wholly  unconscious,  to  elude  all 
immediate  detection  and  analysis. 

Of  genius  in  the  fine  arts,  the  only  infallible  sign  is  the  widening 
the  sphere  of  human  sensibility.  1802.  WORDSWORTH,  II., 
p.  127. 


126       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  ancients  had  no  word  that  properly  expresses  what  we  mean 
by  the  word  genius.  They  perhaps  had  not  the  thing.  Their 
minds  appear  to  have  been  too  exact,  too  retentive,  too  minute 
and  subtle,  too  sensible  to  the  external  differences  of  things,  too 
passive  under  their  impressions  to  admit  of  those  bold  and  rapid 
combinations,  those  lofty  flights  of  fancy,  which,  glancing  from 
heaven  to  earth,  unite  the  most  opposite  extremes,  and  draw  the 
happiest  illustrations  from  things  the  most  remote.  1807- 
HAZLITT,  Sk.  &  Essays,  p.  424. 

No  work  of  true  genius  dares  want  its  appropriate  form  .  .  .  for 
it  is  even  this  that  constitutes  it  genius,  —  the  power  of  acting 
creatively  under  laws  of  its  own  origination.  1810.  COLE- 
RIDGE, IV.,  p.  54. 

Sensibility  both  quick  and  deep  .  .  .  may  be  deemed  a  compon- 
ent part  of  genius.  1817.  ID.,  III.,  p.  175. 

Genius  is  unconscious  of  its  existence  and  action  .  .  .  e.  g.  Mil- 
ton's preference  for  Paradise  Regained.  1826.  HAZLITT,  PL 
Sp.,  pp.  160-175. 

All  genius  is  metaphysical ;  because  the  ultimate  end  of  genius  is 
ideal,  however  it  may  be  actualized  by  incidental  and  accidental 
circumstances.  1832.  COLERIDGE,  VI.,  p.  411. 

Men  of  humor  are  always  in  some  degree  men  of  genius  ;  wits  are 
rarely  so.  1833.  ID.,  VI.,  p.  481. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  century,  "  genius " 
has  been  closely  related  to  the  intellectual  processes 
AS  ethical  an(^  ^°  ac^on-  ^  usually  refers  to  an  in- 
amPartistic  ^cnse  activity  of  the  mind,  an  activity  which 
power.  from  its  intensity  is  oblivious  of  itself,  and 

thus  seems  to  attain  results  of  whose  origin  no  account 
can  be  given,  an  activity  which  represents  a  blending, 
as  it  were,  of  all  the  powers  of  the  mind,  intellectual, 
aesthetic,  and  ethical.  This  concentrated  intense  ac- 
tivity of  the  mind,  however,  has  not  been  regarded  as 
having  its  origin  and  outcome  in  sensibility,  so  much 
as  in  a  subtle  intellectual  analysis,  and  in  impulses 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       127 

toward  action,  toward  the  realization  in  some  manner 
of  the  intensely  conceived  thought,  purpose,  or  ideal. 
Many  efforts  have  been  made  to  define  the  term  "  ge- 
nius "  in  the  light  of  modern  psychological  knowledge, 
but  in  criticism  for  the  last  half-century,  the  term  has 
been  passing  rapidly  out  of  use. 

Genius  is  intellectual  power  impregnated  with  the  moral  nature,  and 
expresses  a  synthesis  of  the  active  in  man  with  his  original  or- 
ganic capacity  of  pleasure  and  pain.  1838.  DE  QUINCEY,  III., 
p.  34. 

Genius  is  nothing  less  than  the  possession  of  all  the  powers  and 
impulses  of  humanity  in  their  greatest  possible  strength,  and  most 
harmonious  combination.  1848.  WHIPPLE,  Lit.  and  Life.  p.  159. 

Enough  that  we  recognize  in  Keats  that  indefinable  newness  and 
unexpectedness  which  we  call  genius.  1854.  LOWELL,  Lat. 
Lit,  Es.,  L,  p.  242. 

Burns  .  .  .  possessed  in  as  high  degree,  I  think,  as  ever  man  pos- 
sessed, the  power  of  which  Coleridge  speaks  in  defining  the 
term  genius,  the  power  to  combine  the  child's  sense  of  wonder 
and  novelty  with  appearances  which  the  experience  of  years  had 
rendered  familiar.  1859.  BRYANT,  II.,  p.  318. 

"Creative  energy  of  genius"  is  said  to  be  in  opposition  to  "form," 
"method,"  "precision,"  "proportions,"  "arrangement,"  —  all 
of  them  things  .  .  .  where  intelligence  proper  comes  in.  1865. 
M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  54. 

Genius  ...  is  the  ruling  divinity  of  poetry.     ID.,  p.  62. 

A  man  of  genius  Lessing  .  .  .  unquestionably  was,  if  genius  may 
be  claimed  no  less  for  force  than  fineness  of  mind, — for  the 
intensity  of  conviction  that  inspires  the  understanding  as  much 
as  for  that  apprehension  of  beauty  which  gives  energy  of  will  to 
imagination,  —  but  a  poetic  genius  he  was  not.  1866.  LOW- 
ELL, II.,  p.  224. 

Genius  lending  itself  to  embody  the  new  desire  of  man's  mind  as  it 
had  embodied  the  old.  1868.  ID.,  III.,  p.  65. 

The  term  genius  when  used  with  emphasis  implies  imagination. 
1876.  EMERSON,  Lei,  &  Soc.  Aims,  p.  22. 


128       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Genius,  therefore,  manifested  in  any  high  degree,  must  be  taken 

to  include  intellect ;  if  the  words  are  to  be  used  in  this  sense, 

genius  begins  where  intellect  ends.     1879.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in 

a  Lib.,  p.  330. 

Those  dark  and  capricious  suggestions  of  genius.     1880.     PATER, 

Ap.,  p.  74. 

Byron's  poetry  has  two  main  constituents,  —  passion  and  wit.  .  .  . 
The  great  thing  in  Byron  is  genius.     1878.     ROSSETTI,  Lives 
of  the  Poets,  p.  307. 
Humor  is  the  overflow  of  genius.     1892.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  &  El. 

of  Poetry,  p.  215. 

The  whole  belief  in  genius  seems  to  me  rather  a  mischievous 
superstition.  .  .  .  Does  it  mean  anything  more  or  less  than 
the  mastery  which  comes  to  any  man  according  to  his  powers 
and  diligence  in  any  direction?  HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction, 
pp.  87,  88. 

To  be  a  genius  is  to  find  one's  self  capable  of  perceiving  ulterior 
truths  of  far-reaching  consequence,  without  passing  through  all 
the  intermediate  stages  of  approach  and  preparation.  .  .  .  The 
mental  activity  is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  which  comprehends 
a  "  brave  attack  "  as  "  an  attack  by  brave  men."  1893.  SIIER- 
MAN,  Analytics  of  Lit.,  p.  121. 

Gentle  (XIX.):  B.  Jon.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  24-. 
Gentlemanlike  (V.):  Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  66. 
Gentlemanly  (V.):  Hal.  to  present. 

.Manly  and  gentlemanly.     WHIPPLE,  Am.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  89. 
Genuine  (VII.) :  Goldsmith  to  present. 

Fresh  and  genuine.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  116. 
Germanisms  (I.):  The  Germanisms  of  Carlyle.     SAINTSBURY,  Eng. 

Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxi. 

Gibberish  (XXII.) :  Whipple,  Es.  &  Rev.,  I.,  p.  412. 
Gigantic  (XI.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

The  Egyptians  .  .  .  mistook  the   gigantic   for  the  sublime,  and 
greatness  of  bulk  for  greatness  of  manner.     J.  WARTON,  I., 
p.  350. 
Faustus  himself  is  a  rude  sketch,  but  it  is  a  gigantic  one.     HAZ- 

LTTT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  43. 
Glaring  (V.)  :  Pope  to  present.     Pope,  X.,  p.  549. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      129 

Glitter  (V.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Glittering  but  still  graceful  conceits.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  EL,  p.  178. 

An  unseasonable  glitter  of  rhetoric.     DE  QUINCEY,  V.,  p.  99. 
Gloomy  (XIV.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Grand  and  gloomy  sketch.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  476. 
Glory :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  24.       ^ 

Glossy  (V.)  :  A  meretricious  gloss.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  121. 
Good-sense  (XX.)  a  :  Jef.  to  present.     -£ 

The  reflection  of  this  quality  of  solid  good  sense,  absolutely  scorn- 
ing any  aliment  except  that  of  solid  ^acts,  is  the  so-called  realism 
of  Fielding's  novels.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  III.,  p.  72. 
Gorgeous  (V.)  :  Webbe  to  present. 

Gorgeous  diction  of  Thompson.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  88. 
GOTHIC  (IX.). 

u Gothic"  has  been  employed  in  criticism  chiefly  as 
a  schematizing  term,  being  applied  directly  to  litera- 
ture but  very  seldom.  Four  periods  may  be  distin- 
guished in  the  history  of  the  term. 

During  the  first  period,  which  extended. until  within 
the  early  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "Gothic" 
indicated  whatever  was  considered  as  rude,  AS  crudity  of 

_       .       ..,  „.  conceit  and 

barbarous,  or  crude  m  literature.  Rhyme  ornament, 
was  thought  to  be  a  Gothic  device,  an  uncouth  orna- 
ment. Forced  conceits  and  wild  fancies  of  all  kinds 
were  classed  as  Gothic,  since  they  seemed  designed 
merely  to  be  striking,  and  since  they  caused  the  sim- 
plifying and  unifying  conception  of  the  composition, 
as  a  whole,  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  the  over-emphasis  of 
the  separate  parts  and  details. 

But  now  when  men  know  the  difference,  and  have  the  examples 
both  of  the  best  and  the  worst,  surely  to  follow  rather  the  Goths 
in  rhyming  than  the  Greeks  in  true  versifying,  were  even  to  eat 
acorns  with  swine,  when  we  may  freely  eat  wheat  bread  amongst 
men.  1568.  ASCITAM,  III.,  p.  249. 
9 


130       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Rhyme,  common  to  all  those  peoples  called  barbarous  by  the 
Greeks  ;  but  it  is  the  first  method  and  most  universal  method, 
.  .  .  which  give  to  all  human  inventions  no  small  credit.  1585. 

PUTTENHAM,  p.  26. 

Something  of  the  stiff  and  Gothic  did  stick  upon  our  language  till 
long  after  Chaucer.  RYMEK,  2d  Pt.,  p.  78. 

The  little  Gothic  ornaments  of  epigrammatical  conceits,  turns, 
points,  and  quibbles,  which  are  so  frequent  in  the  most  admired 
of  our  English  poets,  and  practised  by  those  who  want  genius 
and  strength  to  represent,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancients,  sim- 
plicity in  its  natural  beauty  and  perfection.  1710.  ADDISON, 
II.,  p.  146. 

As  the  eye,  in  surveying  a  Gothic  building,  is  distracted  by  the 
multiplicity  of  ornaments,  and  loses  the  whole  by  its  minute 
attention  to  the  parts,  so  the  mind,  in  perusing  a  work  over- 
stocked with  wit  is  fatigued  and  disgusted  with  the  constant 
endeavor  to  shine  and  surprise.  1742.  D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  241. 

The  second  period  includes  the  greater  portion  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Rhyme  grew  into  favor  with 
AS  strength  ^e  CI*itics.  The  Gothic  was  often  placed  in 
opposition  to  the  classic,  not  as  representing 


mere  barbarity,  but  as  being  associated  with 
such  terms  as  strength,  vividness,  imagination,  gran- 
deur, and  sublimity.  The  use  of  the  term  in  this  and 
in  the  succeeding  period  was  little  more  than  a  trans- 
ference into  literature  of  the  feeling  and  sentiment 
inspired  by  a  Gothic  cathedral.  The  cathedral  was 
conspicuous  for  its  gloomy  massiveness,  its  abrupt  em. 
phasis  of  separate  parts,  and  its  lack  of  formal  unity 
in  general  design.  Likewise,  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  term  "  Gothic,"  as  employed  in  criticism, 
signified  power  and  grandeur  of  thought,  vivid  and 
picturesque  imagery,  and  a  unity  which  lay  deeper  than 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      131 

mere    formal    design    and   construction,  —  a    unity   of 
emotional  effect. 

To  the  Bishop  of  Rochester :  I  know  you  will  be  so  gentle  to  the 
modern  Gotlis  and  Vandals  as  to  allow  them  to  put  a  few  rhymes 
upon  tombs  or  over  doors.     1718.     POPE,  IX.,  p.  13. 
One  may  look  upon  Shakespeare's  works  in  comparison  of  those 
that  are  more  finished  and  regular,  as  upon  an  ancient  majestic 
piece  of  Gothic  architecture,  compared  with  a  neat  modern  build- 
ing; the  latter  is  more  elegant  and  glaring,  but  the  former  is 
more  strong  and  solemn.     1725.     ID.,  X.,  p.  549. 
Gothic  imagination  .  .  .  bordering  often  on  the  most  ideal  and 
capricious  extravagance.   1778.  T.  WARTON,  Hist.  E.  P.,  p.  257. 
The  following  portrait  is  highly  charged,  and  very  great  in  the 
Gothic  style  of  painting:  — 

Blake  was  his  berde,  and  manly  was  his  face : 
The  circles  of  his  eyin  in  his  hede, 
They  glowdin  betwixte  yalowe  and  rede 
And  like  a  lyon  lokid  he  about 
With  kempid  heris  on  his  browis  stout.     (Chaucer.) 
1778.    T.  WARTON,  p.  239. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
Gothic  was  regarded  as  in  no  sense  crude  and  unre- 
fined. Its  rugged  power  was  transformed  AS  suggestive 

grandeur  and 

into  suggestive  power.  It  became  more  in-  sublimity, 
tellectual.  It  usually  denoted  a  supreme  intensity  of 
conception  and  force  in  execution ;  a  blending  of  the 
most  vivid  imagery  with  the  sense  of  the  mysterious 
and  the  infinite ;  a  rigid  subordination  of  definite  form 
in  literature  to  the  thought  or  principle  by  which  this 
form  is  continually  redetermined. 

Wordsworth  compares  his  works  to  a  Gothic  church :  — 
Excursion  is  the  body  of  the  church, 
Prelude  is  the  ante-chapel, 
Smaller  pieces  are  oratorios,  etc. 

WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  146. 


132      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Bold,  rude  Gothic  outline  (Macbeth).  1820.  HAZLITT,  Eliz. 
Lit.,  p.  19. 

Laid  the  restless  spirit  of  Gothic  quaintness,  witticism,  and  con- 
ceit in  the  lap  of  classic  elegance  and  pastoral  simplicity.  ID., 
p.  206. 

The  principle  of  the  Gothic  architecture  is  infinity  made  imagina- 
ble. It  is  no  doubt  a  sublimer  effort  of  genius  than  the  Greek 
style ;  but  then  it  depends  much  more  on  execution  for  its 
effect.  1833.  COLERIDGE,  VI.,  p.  461. 

Greek  art  is  beautiful  .  .  .  but  Gothic  art  is  sublime.  ID.,  IV., 
p.  235. 

That  magnificent  condition  of  fantastic  imagination  which  ...  is 
one  of  the  chief  elements  of  the  Northern  Gothic  mind.  1846. 
RUSKIN,  St.  of  Venice,  II.,  p.  154. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  present  century,  the  terms 
"  Gothic  "  and  "  romantic  "  have  been  employed  almost 
AS  the  ro-  interchangeably  to  represent  one  of  the  two 
mantic.  general  and  opposing  tendencies  by  which 
the  development  of  literature  has  been  controlled.  (See 
Classical.)  The  early  association  of  the  terms  "  Gothic" 
and  "romantic"  was  historical  in  origin,  more  or  less 
accidental,  and  the  terms  were  by  no  means  identified 
with  each  other  in  meaning.  In  becoming  a  synonym 
for  the  "romantic,"  the  " Gothic"  lost  the  fierceness 
of  its  strength,  the  wildness  of  its  suggestion.  It  be- 
came more  general  and  diffused.  It  denotes  the  pro- 
gressive tendencies  in  literature  slightly  intensified, 
perhaps,  over  that  which  is  signified  by  the  term  "  ro- 
mantic." (See  "  Romantic  "  for  quotations.) 

GRACEFUL  (XXII.)  b. 

Throughout  the  history  of  the  term,  and  especially 
previous  to  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      183 

the  "  graceful "  indicated  freedom  and  ease  in  composi- 
tion, resulting  perhaps  from  choice  and  finish,  but  far 
more  usually  from  spontaneous,  sincere,  and  AS  the  spon- 

,.    '  ,,      ,         f  .  taneous,  natu- 

even  negligent  methods  of  expression.  rai,  and  easy. 

Affected  metaphors  lose  their  grace.  B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  60. 
Horace  still  charms  with  graceful  negligence.  POPE,  II.,  p.  75. 
Ovid  shows  himself  most  in  a  familiar  story,  where  the  chief  grace 

is  to  be  easy  and  natural.     ADDISON,  I.,  p.  145. 
Samson  Agonistes  opens  with  a  graceful  abruptness.     S.  JOHNSON, 

III.,  p.  158. 

Since  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  "  graceful "  has  usually  been  associated  more  closely 
than  it  had  previously  been  with  the  con-  AS  animated 

and  free 

ception  of  energy,  or  of  movement,  in  corn-  movement, 
position.     Grace  consists   in  the  absence  of  difficulty, 
the  perfect  union  of  vigor  and  fluency ;    it  represents 
the  aesthetic  sense  of  action  or  the  poetry  of  movement. 

Gracefulness  is  an  idea  not  very  different  from  beauty.  ...  It 
belongs  to  posture  and  motion.  In  both  these  to  be  graceful, 
it  is  requisite  that  there  be  no  appearance  of  difficulty.  BURKE, 
I.,  pp.  137,  138. 

Sweet  native  gracefulness  ...  in  Burns.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  15. 

Impetuous,  graceful  power.     ID.,  IV.,  p.  130. 

Grace,  that  charm  so  magical  because  at  once  so  shadowy  and  so 
potent,  that  Will-o'-the  Wisp  which  in  its  supreme  development 
may  be  said  to  involve  nearly  all  that  is  valuable  in  poetry.  POE, 
II.,  pp.  98,  99. 

Grace  is  but  a  more  refined  form  of  power.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  34. 
Gracious  (XIV.) :  Ros.  to  present. 

So  bright,  so  tender,  so  gracious.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  333. 
Grammatical  (I.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

I.  Exactness  and  correctness  in  the  use  of  single 
words  and  phrases.  Usually  a  primary  literary  require- 
ment previous  to  the  present  century. 


134       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Shakespeare  .  .  .  was  ungrammatical  and  coarse.     DHYDEN,  VI., 

p.  255. 
Shakespeare  .  .  .  was   ungrammatical,    perplexed,    and    obscure. 

1765.     S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  135. 
Pope  .   .  .  was  not  grammatical.     1781.     ID.,  VIII.,  p.  343. 

II.  An  exact,  clear-cut,  and  often  puristic  use  of 
language.  Usually  a  very  secondary  literary  require- 
ment during  the  present  century. 

"I've  done,  begin  the  rites." 
Here  it  is  the  brokenness,  the  ungrammatical  position,  the  total 

subversion  of  the  period,  that  charms  me.     GRAY,  II.,  p.  333. 
The  grammatical  style  ...  of  Newman.     M.  ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit., 

p.  200. 
Grand  (XL):  Scott  to  present. 

The  grand  style,  at  once  noble  and  natural.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  173. 

Shakespeare  himself  .  .  .  has  not  of  the  marks  of  the  master,  this 

one:  perfect  sureness  of  hand  in  his  style.     Alone  of  English 

poets  Milton  has  it ;  he  is  our  great  artist  in  style,  our  one  first 

rate  master  in  the  grand  style.     M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es.,  p.  200. 

Grandeur  (XI.)  :  Mil*,  to  present. 

The  sublime,  which  is  also  simple ;  vast  images  or 
conceptions  which  are  not  complicated  or  over-sugges- 
tive, the  limits  or  full  import  of  which  are  somewhat 
definitely  marked. 

The  grandeur  of  the  historic  style.     MILTON,  III.,  p.  498. 

The  simplicity  of  grandeur  which  fills  the  imagination.  S.  JOHN- 
SON, II.,  p.  178. 

Artless  grandeur.     ID.,  VIII.,  p.  336. 

Sometimes  .  .  .  the  intensity  of  his  satire  gives  to  his  poetry  a 
character  of  emphatic  violence,  which  borders  upon  grandeur. 
SCOTT,  Life  of  Swift,  p.  453. 

Wordsworth  ...  a  baldness   which   is   full   of  grandeur.       M. 

ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  159. 
Grandiloquent  (XIX.)  i\  Put.  to  present. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      135 

Grandiose  (XIX.)  b:  Hal.  to  present. 

Marlowe  .  .  .  constantly  pushes  grandiosity  to  the  verge  of  bom- 
bast.    LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  36. 
Grandity  (XIX.)  6:  Camden,  p.  337. 
Graphic  (III.):  Jef.  to  present.     Wilson,  VI.,  p.  198. 
Grasp  (XIII.):  Swin.,  Mor.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  15. 
Grave  (XIV.) :  T  Wil.  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

The   Georgiacs   are   written  in   a  ...  grave   and   decent   style. 

WEBBE,  p.  29. 
Great  (XXII.)  a:  Haz.  to  present. 

The   great  becomes   turgid  in  ...  Moore's  .  .  .  hands.     HAZ- 

LITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  325. 
Grim  (XIV.)  :  J.  Wil.  to  present. 

A  certain  grim  irony.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  p.  105. 
Grisatre  :  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xliv. 
Gross  (V.) :  Ascham  to  present. 

To  bring  his  style  from  all  low  grossness  to  such  firm  fastness  in 

Latin  as  is  in  Demosthenes  in  Greek.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  206. 
GROTESQUE  (IX.). 

The  term  "grotesque"  indicates  in  general  an  almost 
total  lack  of  proportion  in  the  parts  of  a  composition, 
with  special  reference  to  the  pictorial  char-  As  general 
acter  of  the  mental  imagery  employed.  Until  ^P™*0**0*- 
within  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century,  the 
"  grotesque "  was  considered  as  unnatural,  inorganic, 
hideous  in  its  disproportion.  It  was  often  associated 
with  whatever  was  barbarous,  Gothic,  or  Mediaeval,  but 
even  after  the  Gothic  and  Mediaeval  had  come  into  favor 
in  criticism,  the  "  grotesque  "  still  continued  for  at  least 
half  a  century  to  be  thought  of  as  something  that  lay 
wholly  beyond  the  limits  of  normal,  healthful  literary 
art. 

When  words  or  images  are  placed  in  unusual  juxtaposition  rather 
than  connection,  and  arc  so  placed  merely  because  the  juxtapo- 


136       A  HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

sition  is  unusual,   we  have  the  odd  or  the  grotesque.      1810. 
COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  276. 

The  pure,  which  is  called  the  classical ;  the  ornate,  called  roman- 
tic; and  the  grotesque,  which  might  be  called  the  Mediaeval. 
1864.  BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  II.,  p.  352. 

During  the  greater  portion  of  the  present  century, 
the  characteristic  use  of  the  term  has  been  to  repre- 
AS  dispropor-  sent  the  healthful  overflow,  so  to  speak,  of 
imagery.  the  imagination  in  literary  production,  as 
especially  indicated  in  an  extreme  disproportion  of-  the 
picturesque  qualities  of  the  mental  imagery  employed. 
The  hideous  now  indicates  the  outer  limits  of  dispro- 
portion in  art,  which  was  formerly  occupied  by  the 
grotesque. 

The  picturesque  depends  chiefly  on  the  principle  of  discrimination 
or  contrast.  ...  It  runs  imperceptibly  into  the  fantastical  and 
grotesque.  1819.  HAZLITT,  Table  Talk,  pp.  448,  449. 
Close  alongside  ot'  the  normal  lies  the  sphere  of  the  abnormal ;  of 
the  sane,  lies  the  insane ;  of  pleasure,  lies  disgust ;  of  cohesion, 
lies  dissolution ;  of  the  grotesque,  lies  the  hideous ;  of  the  sub- 
lime, lies  the  ridiculous.  .  .  .  Victor  Hugo,  in  his  imaginative 
flights,  is  forever  hovering  about  this  dividing  line,  fascinated, 
spellbound  by  what  lies  beyond.  BURROUGHS,  Indoor  St., 
p.  182. 

Wherever  the  human  mind  is  healthy  and  vigorous  in  all  its  pro- 
portions, great  in  imagination  and  emotion  no  less  than  in  intel- 
lect, and  not  overborne  by  an  undue  or  hardened  pre-eminence 
of  the  mere  reasoning  faculties,  there  the  grotesque  will  exist  in 
full  energy.  ...  I  think  that  the  central  man  of  all  the  world 
as  representing  in  perfect  balance  the  imaginative,  moral,  and 
intellectual  faculties,  all  at  their  highest,  is  Dante.  1846. 
RUSKIN,  St.  of  Venice,  II.,  p.  206. 

Grovelling:  Dry.,  Ad. 

Grovelling  style  ...  of  Horace.     DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  88. 

Guarded  (XIX.):  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  88. 


A   HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.       137 

Gush  (XIX.)  b\  Stcd.,  Saints.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  158. 
Gusto  (XV.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

An  impulsive  and  passionate  apprehension  and  liter- 
ary embodiment  of  an  image,  thought,  or  general 
principle. 

Gusto  in  art  is  power  or  passion  defining  an  object.  HAZLITT, 
The  Round  Table,  p.  109. 

Gusto  of  Chaucer  ...  a  local  truth  and  freshness.  ID.,  Eug.  P., 
p.  36. 

Acuteness  and  gusto.     HUNT,  Wit  &  Humour,  p.  5. 

Combination  of  gusto  with  sound  theory.     SAINTSBUBT,  Es.  in 

Eng.  Lit.,  p.  158. 

Gusty:  (XIX.)  b  ;  Swin.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  265. 
Hackneyed  (IX.)  :  Cole  to  present. 

Hackneyed  and  commonplace.     LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  130. 
Halting  (XVIII.)  :  Hazlitt,  Age  of  El.,  p.  44. 
Handsome  (XXII.)  b :  Jef.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  72. 
Happy  (IV.):  Camden  to  present. 

The  turn  of  the  poem  is  happy.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  79. 
Hard  (III.),  cf.  (XXII.)  6:  Ascham  to  present. 

I.  Difficult;  not  clear. 

The  sense  is  hard  and  dark.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  269. 

Piers  Plowman  .  .  .  hard  and  obscure.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  76. 

II.  Not  productive  of  aesthetic  feeling ;  ineffectual. 

All  attempts  that  are  new  in  this  kind  are  dangerous  and  some- 
what hard,  before  they  be  softened  with  use.  B.  JONSON, 
Timber,  p.  61. 

Dry,  hard,  and  barren  of  effect.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  207. 
HARMONY  (X.). 

There  are  two  periods  and  three  uses  in  the  history 
of  the  term  "harmony."  Previous  to  the  present  cen- 
tury the  term  denoted  a  fixed  and  uniform  AS  regular 

continuations 

method  of  combining  sounds  and  ot  arrang-  of  sound, 


138       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

ing  the  metrical  movements  of  a  literary  production. 
This  established  harmony,  it  was  assumed,  could  not 
fail  to  please  the  ear  and  arouse  agreeable  emotions 
in  the  mind. 

We  ought  to  join  words  together  in  apt  order  that  the  ear  may 

delight  in  hearing  the  harmony.    T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  pp.  175, 176. 

Poesy  is  a  skill  to  speak  and  write  harmonically.     1585.     PUT- 

TENHAM,  p.  79. 

By  the  harmony  of  words  we  elevate  the  mind  to  a  sense  of  devo- 
tion. 1669.  DRYDEN,  III.,  p.  377- 

To  preserve  an  exact  harmony  and  variety,  the  pause  at  the  fourth 
or  sixth  .  .  .  syllable  of  the  verse  .  .  .  should  not  be  continued 
above  three  lines  together  without  the  interposition  of  another. 
1706.  POPE,  VI.,  p.  57. 

Our  poetry  was  not  quite  harmonized  in  Waller's  time;  so  that 
this  (On  the  Death  of  the  Lord  Protector),  which  would  be  now 
looked  upon  as  a  slovenly  sort  of  versification,  was,  with  respect 
to  the  times  in  which  it  was  written,  almost  a  prodigy  of  har- 
mony. 1767.  GOLDSMITH,  V.,  p.  160. 

After  about  half  a  century  of  forced  thoughts  and  rugged  meter, 
some  advances  toward  nature  and  harmony  had  been  made  by 
Waller  and  Denham.  1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.;  pp.  307, 
308. 

During  the  present  century,  the  term  "harmony," 
when  referring  to  the  sounds  and  rhythms  of  a  com- 
AS  unity  and  position,  represents  such  a  combination  of 

variety  of 

sound.  regularity  and  irregularity,  of  uniformity  and 

variety,  as  shall  keep  expectation  continually  upon  the 
wing,  as  shall  conform  to  the  anticipated  combinations 
of  sounds  and  of  rhythms  enough  to  give  a  certain  de- 
gree of  confidence  to  the  expectation,  but  which  shall 
disappoint  the  anticipation  enough  to  keep  the  expecta- 
tion continually  re-formin<r  its  basis  of  inference. 


A  HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       139 

The  heroic  measure  of  Chaucer  is  in  general  not  only  metrically 
correct,  but  possesses  considerable  harmony.  1819.  CAMP- 
BELL, I.,  p.  47. 

Spenser  threw  the  soul  of  harmony  into  our  verse.     ID.,  p.  53. 

Johnson  says  these  are  remarkably  inharmonious  :  — 

This  delicious  place 

Eor  us  too  large,  where  thy  abundance  wants 
Partakers,  and  uncropt  falls  to  the  ground.     (Par.  Lost.) 

There  are  few  so  dull  as  to  be  incapable  of  perceiving  the  beauty 
of  the  rhythm  in  the  last,  1826.  LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  449. 

There  is  many  a  critic  who  talks  of  harmony,  and  whose  ear  seems 
to  have  been  fashioned  out  of  the  callus  of  his  foot.  ID.,  VIII., 
p.  387. 

In  Massinger,  as  all  our  poets  before  Dryden,  in  order  to  make 
harmonious  verse  in  the  reading,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
the  meaning  should  be  understood ;  when  the  meaning  is  once 
seen  then  the  harmony  is  perfect.  Whereas  in  Pope  ...  it  is 
the  mechanical  meter  which  determines  the  sense.  (Pub.) 
1836.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  259. 

Occasionally,  in  this  century,  the  term  "  harmony " 
denotes  a  blending  of  all  the  parts  of  a  composition 
into  one  another  in  such  a  manner  as  to  AS  general 

adaptation  in 

produce  a  perfect  unity  of  aesthetic    effect,      composition. 

Poetry  ...  is  the  result  of  the  general  harmony  and  completion 
...  of  all  thejssulties.  1828.  CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  18. 

We  have  no  word  but  the  coarse  and  insufficient  word  taste  to 
express  that  noble  sense  of  harmony  and  high  poetic  propriety 
shown  ...  in  these  lyrics.  1867.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 
p.  141. 

Dramatic  harmony.     1889.     ID.,  A  St.  of  B.  Jonson,  p.  66. 
Harsh  (X.)  :  Harvey  to  present. 

I.  Rough  and  broken  in  sound  or  thought. 

The  sound  which  I  speak  of  as  belonging  to  Grammar  relates  only 
to  sweetnesses  and  harshnesses.  t  BACON,  IV.,  p.  443. 

II.  Hard;  obscure. 

Harsh  and  obscure.     WEBBE,  p.  32. 


140       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

III.    Unfeeling;  unsympathetic. 

The  harsh  direct  narrative  of  Defoe.     GOSSE,  Eighteeutli  Cent.  St., 

p.  385. 

Healthful  (XIV.):  Chan.     Howells,  Cr.  &  Fiction,  p.  24. 
Hearty  (XLL):  Walton,  Saints. 

Too  hearty  to  be  dissembled.     WALTON,  Lives,  p.  119. 
Heat  (XV.):  Lan.,  Swin. 

Shakespeare's  sonnets  are  hot  and  pothery.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  512. 
Heavenly  (XXII.)  b:  Lodge  to  present. 

When  their  matter  is  most  heavenly,  their  style  is  most  lofty. 

LODGE,  p.  11. 
Heavy  (XVIII.)  :  Campion  to  present. 

That  which  produces  fatigue;   the  tedious,  the  diffi- 
cult, the  over-condensed. 

I  cannot  agree  that  this  exactness  of  detail  produces  heaviness; 
on  the  contrary,  it  gives  an  appearance  of  truth.  HAZLITT, 
Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  159. 

Milton  .  .  .  often  condenses  weight  into  heaviness.     HUNT,  Im- 
agination and  Fancy,  p.  47- 
Hectic  (XV.)  :  The  water  blushed  into  wine.     (Crashaw.) 

This  is  in  his  usual  hectic  manner.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers, 

p.  69. 
Heightened  (VIII.) :   Heightened  and  elaborate  air.     M.  ARNOLD, 

Cel.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  288. 
Heroic  (XI.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Kinds  of  poetry,  —  heroic,  scommatic,  pastoral.     HOBBES,  IV., 

p.  444. 
The  personages  to  speak  not  as  men  but  as  heroes.     SCOTT,  Ed. 

of  Dryden,  II.,  p.  318. 
Hideous  (XXII.)  b :   Hideous  and  ludicrous  conceits.     GOSSE,  Life 

of  Congreve,  p.  155. 
High  (XI.):  Put.  to  present. 

High  and  stately.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  164. 

From  style   really  high  and  pure,   Milton  never  departs.     M. 

ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  62. 
High-colored  (V.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

High-colored  and  apparently  exaggerated.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  370. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      141 

High-toned :  Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  79. 
Historic  (VIII.)  :  Camp,  to  present. 

I.  In  theory,  history,  representing  past  events  and 
past  attainments,  is  thought  to  furnish  a  basis  for  the 
poetic   activity  to   which,  also,   in   a   measure,  it   pre- 
scribes limits. 

In  an  historian  ...  I  do  not  want  frequent  interspersions  of  sen- 
timent. MILTON,  III.,  p.  515. 

Eor  as  truth  is  the  bound  of  historical,  so  the  resemblance  of  truth 
is  the  utmost  limit  of  poetical  liberty.  HOBBES,  IV.,  pp.  451, 
452. 

The  historian,  to  be  worthy  the  name,  must  occasionally  exercise 
the  poet's  office.  WALLER,  II.,  p.  448. 

Truth  to  nature  can  be  reached  ideally,  never  historically.  LOW- 
ELL, Prose,  II.,  p.  128. 

II.  The  "historic,"  in  its  immediate  critical  signifi- 
cance, is  thought  to  be  prosaic  and  tedious. 

Norman  verse  dwelt  for  a  considerable  time  in  the  tedious  historic 

style.     CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  14. 
Histrionic  (VIII.)  :  False  and  histrionic.     SWINBURNE,  Es.   &  St., 

p.  249. 
Hobbling  (XVIII.):  Mil.,  Dry. 

Carmen  hexametrum  doth  rather  trot  and  hobble  than  run  smoothly 

in  our  English  tongue.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  251. 
Hollow  :  J.  Wil.  to  present. 

False  and  hollow.  WILSON,  VII.,  p.  314. 
Home-bred  (VII.)  :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  49. 
Homely  (V.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

The    extreme    homeliness  ...  of  Defoe's   style.      LAMB,   Mrs. 

Leicester,  p.  305. 
Home-spun :  Swin.  to  present. 

Home-spun  style  of  Locke.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  96. 
Homogeneous  (XIII.)  a :  Lowell,  Prose,  IV.,  p.  162. 


142       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 
HONEST  (VII.):  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

I.  In  early  criticism,  the  term  signified  that  which 
was  not  affected  or  over-strained ;  moderation  and  nat- 
uralness of  statement. 

That  is  called  an  honest  matter  when  either  we  take  in  hand  such 
a  cause  that  all  men  would  maintain,  or  else  gainsay  such  a 
cause  that  no  man  can  well  like.  T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  8. 

The  honesty  and  simplicity  of  the  first  beginners  in  tragedy. 
RYMBE,  2d  Pt.,  p.  11. 

The  venustum,  the  honestum,  the  decorum  of  things  will  force  its 
way.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  108. 

II.  Later,  the  term  has  signified  that  which  is  nei- 
ther affected  nor  conventional, —  the  spontaneous  and 
natural  in  composition. 

Spontaneous  and  honest.     LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.s  p.  3. 
Simple,  natural,  and  honest.     HOWELLS,  Cr.  &  Fiction. 
Horrible  (XXII.)  A:  Swin.,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  14- 
Horrid  (XXII.)  b :  Gossc,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  84. 
Horse-play  (V.)  :   Hunt  to  present.     Hunt,  Wit  &  Humour,  p.  2. 
Human  (XIV.):  Whip,  to  present. 

Elizabethan  literature  .  .  .  was  intensely  human.     WHIPPLE,  El. 

Lit.,  p.  5. 

I  call  this  a  good  human  bit  of  writing  .  .  .  not  so  high-falutmg 

...  as  the  modern  style,  since  poets  have  got  hold  of  a  theory 

that  imagination  is  common  sense  turned  inside  out.     LOWELL, 

III.,  p.  270. 

Motives   broadly  human  .  .  .  such  as  one  and  all  may  realize. 

PATER,  Ap.,  p.  241. 
Humanism:  The  faded  humanism  of  the  taste  of  the  day.     GOSSE, 

Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  97. 
Humble  :  Put.  to  present. 

In  a  style  that  expressed  such  a  grave  and  so  humble  a  majesty. 

WALTON,  Lives,  ,p.  184. 
The  proper  place  of  comparisons  lies  in  the  middle  region  between 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       143 

the  highly  pathetic  and  the  very  humble  style.     BLAIR,  Rhet., 

p.  184. 
Humdrum  :  Jog-trot  and  humdrum,  so  not  powerful.     M.  ARNOLD, 

Celtic  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  183. 
HUMOR  (XVII.). 

The  word  "humor"  as  employed  in  criticism  denoted 
at  first  —  in  accordance  with  the  physiological  knowl- 
edge of  the  times  —  a  supposed  fluid  or  moisture  of  the 
body,  which  was  erratic  and  ungovernable  in  its  method 
of  activity.  "Humor"  has  come  to  mean  an  active, 
impulsive  play  of  sympathy  between  the  ideal  and  the 
actual  conditions  of  human  life.  In  such  an  extended 
change  of  meaning  as  this,  it  is  evident  that  almost 
an  infinite  number  of  intermediate  distinctions  could 
be  drawn.  But  in  all  such  distinctions  there  is  a  com- 
mon element  of  critical  significance  in  the  term,  in 
that  it  designates  a  principle  of  variation  in  literature, 
progressive  or  revolutionary  tendencies,  which  are 
brought  about  by  an  apparently  involuntary  play  of 
the  fancy  upon  the  incongruities  of  actual  life,  accom- 
panied, perhaps,  by  a  spirit  of  sympathetic  feeling. 
The  changes  of  meaning  in  the  term  have  resulted 
chiefly  from  the  different  incentives  which  have  pro- 
duced this  variation  and  play  of  the  fancy. 

Four  general  stages  of  development  of  meaning  may 
be  distinguished  in  the  history  of  the  term. 

Until  the  eighteenth  century,  the  physiological  origin 
of  the  term  occasionally  controlled  its  critical  meaning. 
The  humors  of  the  body  were  blind  and  aim-  Ag  an  erratic 
less.  They  were  themselves  the  source  of  bodily  humor- 
oddities  and  incongruities  rather  than  the  means  of 


UNIVERSITY    I 

OF  / 


144       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

reacting  upon  oddities  and  incongruities  in  others. 
Hence  they  furnished  material  for  literary  representa- 
tion, but  in  the  author  himself  they  were  considered 
as  merely  a  disturbing  influence  in  the  organizing  of 
this  material. 

Poetry  in  the  primogeniture  had  many  peccant  humours,  and  is 
made  to  have  more  now,  through  the  levity  and  inconstancy  of 
men's  judgments.  (Pub.)  1641.  B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  72. 

A  play  ...  is  ...  a  just  and  lively  image  of  human  nature,  rep- 
resenting its  passions  and  humours,  and  the  changes  of  fortune 
to  which  it  is  subject,  for  the  delight  and  instruction  of  mankind. 
1668.  DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  292. 

What  force  of  wit  and  spirit  in  the  style,  what  lively  painting  of 
humour,  some  fancy  they  discern  there,  I  will  not  examine  nor 
dispute.  1699.  BENTLEY,  II.,  p.  78. 

Correct  the  redundancy  of  humours,  and  chasten  the  exuberance 
of  conceit  and  fancy.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  131. 

All  the  varieties  and  turns  of  humour.  .  .  .  Yet  the  simple  imita- 
tion of  nature  .  .  .  through  petulancy  or  debauch  of  humour 
.  .  .  was  set  aside.  ID.,  p.  193. 

From  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  until 
the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "humor" 
AS  the  usually  indicated  the  pleasantly  ridiculous, 

ridiculous.  the  merely  laughable,  the  comical.  But  for 
the  representation  of  these  things,  the  author,  it  was 
now  recognized,  must  himself  be  possessed  of  a  sense 
of  what  was  humorous,  and  it  was  this  humorous  sense 
in  the  author  which  determined  the  nature  of  the  hu- 
mor in  the  literary  production.  This  humor  was  closely 
allied  to  wit.  It  consisted  in  general  of  a  sudden  feel- 
ing of  contrast  between  the  ordinary  routine  of  life  and 
some  extravagant  incident  or  incongruity,  which  was 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       145 

usually  supposed  to  be  found  or  to  have  taken  place 
among  the  lower  classes  of  society.  The  contrast,  how- 
ever, remained  a  contrast,  and  was  not  taken  up  into 
the  unifying  influence  of  sympathetic  feeling.  The 
purpose  of  the  Jiumor  did  not  extend  beyond  the  pleas- 
ant excitation  of  the  moment. 

Genesis  of  humor  from  the  ancients.     (Summary) :  — 

1 .  At  first  an  odd  conceit,  not  imitation. 

2.  Then  containing  only  the  general   characters   of  men  and 

manners,  i.  e.,  types;  e.  g.  old  men,  lovers,  courtezans, 
etc. 

3.  Among  English,  some  extravagant  habit,  passion,  or  affec- 

tation .  .  .  distinguishing  its  possessor  from  the  rest  of 
men.  1668.  DKYDEN,  XV.,  p.  350. 

Jonson's  comedy,  "neither  all  wit  or  all  humour,  but  the  result  of 
both."  1671.  ID.,  III.,- p.  244. 

Jonson  was  the  only  man  of  all  ages  and  nations  who  has  per- 
formed* it  (humor)  well.  ...  To  make  men  appear  pleasantly 
ridiculous  on  the  stage  .  .  .  was  his  talent.  ID.,  p.  241. 

There  is  in  Othello  some  burlesque,  some  humour,  and  ramble  of 
comical  wit.  RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  146. 

Pew  passages  in  Horace  are  more  full  of  humour  than  this  ludi- 
crous punishment  of  the  poor  creditor.  1756.  J.  WAB.TON, 
II.,  p.  215. 

As  humor  in  writing  chiefly  consists  in  an  imitation  of  the  foibles 
or  absurdities  of  mankind,  so  our  pleasure  in  this  species  of 
composition  arises  from  comparing  the  picture  in  description 
with  the  original  in  nature.  In  the  works  of  our  own  country- 
men we  have  frequent  opportunities  of  making  this  comparison, 
as  the  originals  are  generally  before  us ;  but  when  we  read  the 
productions  of  foreigners,  as  their  portraits  are  copied  from 
manners  with  which  we  are  not  sufficiently  acquainted,  so  they 
must  often  appear  forced  and  unnatural.  1757-  GOLDSMITH, 
IV.,  p.  283. 

During  the   eighteenth  century  "humor"  was  very 

often  regarded  as  a  form  of  the  comical,  in  which  the 

10 


146       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

poignancy  resulted,  not  from  the  extravagant  violation 
AS  the  of  social  customs  in  general,  but  from  any 

ludicrous.  deviation  whatever  from  good  taste  and  cul- 
tivated feeling.  u  Humor "  thus  considered  was  more 
diffused  and  genial  than  in  the  preceding  use  of  the 
term.  It  was  thought  of  as  a  characteristic  of  the 
author's  mind,  an  active  influence  in  producing  litera- 
ture. It  represented  a  conservative  form  of  sympathy, 
a  sympathy  which  included  certain  imperfect  conditions 
only  in  order  that  these  conditions  might  be  corrected 
and  improved  in  conformity  with  other  conditions 
already  well  established.  This  form  of  "  humor"  was 
associated  with  wit  and  satire,  not  with  pathos. 

A  man  of  urbanitas  will  be  one  from  whom  many  good  sayings  and 
repartees  shall  have  proceeded,  and  who,  in  common  conversa- 
tion, at  meetings,  at  entertainments,  in  assemblies  of  the  people, 
and,  in  short,  everywhere  speaks  with  humor  and  propriety. 
QUINTILIAN,  VI.,  p.  455. 

A  taste  for  humour  is  in  some  manner  fixed  to  the  very  nature  of 
man,  and  generally  obvious  to  the  vulgar,  except  upon  subjects 
too  refined,  and  superior  to  their  understanding.  SWIFT,  IX., 
p.  88. 

It  is  not  an  imagination  that  teems  with  monsters,  an  head  that  is 
filled  with  extravagant  conceptions,  which  is  capable  of  furnish- 
ing the  world  with  diversions  of  humour.  1710.  ADDISON, 
II.,  p.  297. 

Genuine  humour,  the  concomitant  of  true  taste,  consists  in  discern- 
ing improprieties  in  books  as  well  as  characters.  1778.  T. 
WARTON,  Hist.  E.  P.,  p.  286. 

Wit  and  humour  are  ever  found  in  proportion  to  the  progress  of 
refinement.  1778.  ID.,  p.  684. 

Addison's  humour  is  so  happily  diffused  as  to  give  the  grace  of 
novelty  to  domestic  scenes  and  daily  occurrences.  1781.  S. 
JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  472. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       147 

In  fact  Hawthorne  was  able  to  tread  in  that  magic  circle  only  by 
an  exquisite  refinement  of  taste,  and  by  a  delicate  sense  of  hu- 
mour, which  is  the  best  preservative  against  all  extravagance.. 
1874.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  I.,  p.  295. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
humor  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  characteristic  of 
genius,  an  instinct  which  acted  "  without  Ag  the  s  m_ 
design,"  as  it  were,  unconsciously.  In  the  senseetof  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  humor  was 
distinguished  from  wit,  —  humor  being  the  more  un- 
conscious and  sympathetic,  wit  the  more  conscious 
and  intellectual.  Throughout  the  present  century,  the 
term  "  humor,"  with  few  exceptions,  has  represented 
the  sense  of  the  incongruous,  which  arises,  when  the 
actual  is  viewed  in  the  light  of  ideals,  which  are  as 
broad  and  comprehensive  as  human  life  itself.  Hu- 
mor thus  relates  to  common  human  interests  and 
ideals,  is  buoyant  and  filled  with  a  sense  of  growth 
and  development.  Humor  reaches  out  continually  and 
brings  into  its  sympathetic  unity  new  material  for  lit- 
erature. Though  one  of  the  most  progressive  of  liter- 
ary tendencies,  the  intimate  relation  of  humor  to  pathos 
keeps  it  distinct  from  the  merely  incongruous,  the  dis- 
proportioned,  the  grotesque. 

Such,  then,  being  demonstrably  the  possibility  of  blending  or  fus- 
ing, as  it  were,  the  elements  of  pathos  and  humour,  and  com- 
posing out  of  their  union  a  third  metal,  I  cannot  but  consider 
John  Paul  Richter  as  by  far  the  most  eminent  artist  in  that  way 
since  the  time  of  Shakespeare.  1821.  DE  QUINCEY,  XI., 
p.  264. 

Whilst  wit  is  a  purely  intellectual  thing,  into  every  act  of  the  hu- 
mourous mood  there  is  an  influx  of  the  moral  nature.  ID., 
p.  270. 


148       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  essence  of  humour  is  sensibility ;  warm,  tender  fellow-feeling 
with  all  forms  of  existence.  Nay,  we  may  say  that  unless  sea- 
soned and  purified  by  humour,  sensibility  is  apt  to  run  wild; 
will  readily  corrupt  into  disease,  falsehood,  or,  in  one  word,  sen- 
timentality. 1827.  CARLYLE,  L,  p.  14. 

Humour  is  properly  the  exponent  of  low  things ;  that  which  first 
renders  them  poetical  to  the  mind.  The  man  of  humour  sees 
common  life,  even  mean  life,  under  the  new  light  of  sportfulness 
and  love.  1828.  ID.,  III.,  p.  97- 

Humor  properly  took  its  rise  in  the  Middle  Ages ;  and  the  Devil, 
the  Vice  of  the  mysteries,  incorporates  the  modern  humor  in  its 
elements.  It  is  a  spirit  measured  by  disproportionate  finites. 
(Pub.)  1836.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  279. 

Humor  in  its  first  analysis  is  a  perception  of  the  incongruous,  and, 

in  its   highest   development,   of  the   incongruity   between  the 

actual  and  the  ideal  in  men  and  life.     1866.     LOWELL,  II., 

p.  97. 

Nothing  but  the  highest  artistic  sense  can  prevent  humor  from 

degenerating  into  the  grotesque.     1866.     ID.,  p.  90. 
Your  historian,  for  instance,  with  absolutely  truthful  intention,  .  .  . 
must  needs  select,  and  in  selecting  assert  something  of  his  own 
humour,  something  that  comes  not  of  the  world  without,  but  of 
a  vision  within.     1888.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  5. 
Humor  is  the  overflow  of  genius.     1892.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  &  El. 

of  Poetry,  p.  215. 

Hurtling  (X.)  :  Clang  of  hurtling  rhymes.  GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  43. 
Hybrid  (VII.)  :  Hybrid  and  bastard  rhymes.     SWINBURNE. 
Hyperbolical  (VIII.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Hyperboles   suit  with  the  temperament  of  the  young,  for  they 

evince  a  vehemence  of  temper.  ARISTOTLE,  TUiet.,  p.  245. 
Hyperbole,  the  over-reacher  or  loud  liar.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  200. 
Figurative  expressions,  or  hyperbolical  allusions.  HAZLITT,  Age 

of  EL,  p.  56. 

Hysterical  (XV.)  :  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  227. 
Idea :  Jef.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  165. 
IDEAL  (XXIII). 

The  term  has  been  employed  chiefly  in  theory  as  an 
opposing  expression  to  the  real.     It  usually  refers  di- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      149 

rectly  to  the  author  himself  rather  than  to  his  literary 
work.  The  "  ideal "  represents  the  result  AS  enhance- 
of  the  imaginative  activity  in  heightening  heightening, 
or  transforming  facts  or  historical  truth  into  literary 
material  and  literary  forms  of  expression.  Two  stages 
may  perhaps  be  distinguished  in  this  imaginative  sub- 
limation of  the  real  or  actual.  (See  Imagination  and 
Reality.)  Usually  the  "ideal"  indicates  an  improve- 
ment or  elevation  of  the  common  and  well-known  fact, 
a  deeper  conception  of  its  meaning ;  the  transformation 
of  it  as  a  fixed  entity  into  a  moving  principle,  accompa- 
nied, perhaps,  by  strong  feeling  and  passion. 

Entertains  in  his  imagination  an  ideal  beauty,  conceived  and  culti- 
vated as  an  improvement  upon  nature.  GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  338. 

Milton  has  no  idealism  .  .  .  Wordsworth  has.  WILSON,  V., 
p.  395. 

Truth  to  nature  can  be  reached  ideally,  never  historically.  LOW- 
ELL, Prose,  II.,  p.  128. 

A  figure  may  be  ideal  and  yet  accurate.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 
p.  220. 

Every  workman  must  be  a  realist  in  knowledge,  and  an  idealist  for 
interpretation.  STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  199. 

Occasionally  the  "ideal"  possesses  no  direct  resem- 
blance to  any  definite  fact  or  historical  truth.     It  is  to 

be  defined  merely  as  that  which  is  in  accord  AS  impas- 
sioned inven- 
with   the   sense  of   harmony  and   beauty  in  tion. 

the  mind. 

The  ideal  is  that  which  answers  to  the  preconceived  and  appetite 
in  the  mind  for  love  and  beauty.  HAZLITT,  Table  Talk,  p.  448. 

His  idealism  does  not  consist  in  conferring  grandeur  upon  vulgar 
objects  by  tinging  them  with  the  reflection  of  deep  emotion. 
STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  I.,  p.  280. 


150     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 
Idiomatic  (I.)  :  Harvey  to  present. 

The  vernacular;  a  diction,  common,  well  known,  con- 
versational. Not  held  in  much  favor  by  the  critics 
until  within  the  eighteenth  century. 

Rules  for  avoiding  the  idiomatic  style  and  attaining  the  sublime, — 

use  of  metaphors,  etc.     ADDISON,  III.,  pp.  191,  192. 
Milton  formed  his  style  by  a  perverse  and  pedantic  principle ;  lie 
was  desirous  to  use  English  words  with  a  foreign  idiom.     S. 
JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  140. 
Spenser's  language  is   less  pure   and  idiomatic  than  Chaucer's. 

HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  56. 

They  wrote  idiomatically,  because  they  wrote  naturally  and  with- 
out affectation.     DE  QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  126. 
Idiosyncrasy :  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxiv. 
Idyllic  (XXL)  :  Swiu.  to  present. 

An  idyllic  or  picturesque  mode.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  187- 
Idyllic  flavor.     SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  299. 
Ignoble  (XIV.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  391. 
Ill-constructed :  Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  9. 
Ill-digested:  Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  181. 
Ill-placed  (IV.):  Dry.,  J.  War. 

A  synchesis  or  ill-placing  of  words.     DRYDEN,  IV.,  p.  231. 
IMAGINATION  (XXIII.)- 

Five  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the  history  of 
the  term  "  imagination."  During  the  first  period,  which 
AS  the  source  ex^en^s  !°  ^lc  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
SndpoSSa  tui7?  "  imagination  "  was  not  an  active  criti- 
caTterm  in  applied  criticism,  though  in  theory 
it  was  thought  to  be  a  sufficient  explanation  for  the 
origin  of  poetry.  Imagination  was  a  more  or  less 
independent  mental  activity,  set  over  in  sharp  relief  \ 
against  the  reason,  and  having  to  do  with  "jdeas"  or 
images,  which  could  in  no  sense  be  derived  from  past 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     151 

experience,  which  in  fact  had  far  less  reference  even 
to  the  present  than  to  future  experience.  Imagina- 
tion was  regarded  from  the  standpoint  of  its  effect. 
It  was  the  means  by  which  poetical  and  religious  con- 
ceptions could  be  attained  and  appreciated.  These  the 
poet  and  critic  found  existing  in  society  as  potent  in- 
fluences in  actual  conduct.  The  mental  activity  by 
which  these  conceptions  were  rendered  possible  was 
left  almost  wholly  undefined. 

Art  transcends  nature  ...  by  means  of  the  idea  or  fore-conceit  of 
the  work.  .  .  .  And  that  the  poet  hath  that  idea  is  manifest  by 
delivering  them  forth  in  such  excellency  as  he  hath  imagined 
them.  Which  delivering  forth  also  is  not  wholly  imaginative, 
as  we  are  wont  to  say  by  them  that  build  castles  in  the  air; 
but  so  far  substantially  it  worketh,  not  only  to  make  a  Cyrus 
which  had  been,  but  a  particular  excellency,  as  Nature  might 
have  done,  but  to  bestow  a  Cyrus  upon  the  world,  to  make  many 
Cyrus's  if  they  wrill  learn  aright  why  and  how  that  Maker  made 
him.  1583.  SIDNEY,  p.  8. 

God,  without  any  travail  to  his  divine  imagination,  made  all  the 
world  of  nought,  nor  also  by  any  patern  or  mould  as  the  Pla- 
tonics with  their  "Ideas"  do  fantastically  suppose.  Even  so 
the  very  poet  makes  and  contrives  out  of  his.  own  brain  both  the 
verse  and  matter  of  his  poem,  and  not  by  any  foreign  copy  or 
example,  as  doth  the  translator,  who  therefore  may  well  be  said 
a  versifier  but  not  a  poet.  1585.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  19. 

The  poet  .  .  .  rests  only  in  device,  and  issues  from  an  excellent 
sharp  and  quick  invention,  holpen  by  a  clear  and  bright  phantasy 
and  imagination.  ID.,  pp.  312,  313. 

Imagination  bringing  bravely  dight 
Her  pleasing  images  in  best  array. 

1G03.     DANIEL,  I.,  p.  238. 

The  best  division  of  human  learning  is  that  derived  from  the  three 
faculties  of  the  rational  soul,  which  is  the  seat  of  learning.  His- 
tory has  reference  to  the  memory,  poesy  to  the  imagination,  and 


152     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

philosophy  to  the  reason.  And  by  poesy  here  I  mean  nothing 
else  than  feigned  history  or  fables ;  for  verse  is  but  a  character 
of  style,  and  belongs  to  the  arts  of  speech.  BACON,  IV.,  p.  292. 

Reason,  when  it  has  made  its  judgment  and  selection,  sends  them 
over  to  the  imagination  before  the  decree  be  put  in  execution. 
For  voluntary  motion  is  ever  preceded  and  incited  by  imagina- 
tion. ...  So  ...  this  Janus  of  Imagination  has  two  different 
faces;  for  the  face  towards  reason  has  the  print  of  truth,  and 
the  face  toward  action  has  the  print  of  goodness.  .  .  .  But  it  is 
not  simply  a  messenger  ...  it  usurps  no  small  authority  in 
itself,  e.  g.,  in  matters  of  faith  it  is  above  reason.  BACON,  IV., 
p.  406. 

In  a  fable,  if  the  action  be  too  great,  we  can  never  comprehend 
the  whole  together  in  our  imagination.  164-1.  B.  JONSON, 
Timber,  p.  84. 

The  second  period  extends  to  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Imagination  was  considered  as 
AS  an  imag-  an  imaging  process,  but  the  hnage  received 
far  more  attention  than  the  process.  The 
image  was  thought  to  be  the  means  by  which  the  "imi- 
tation of  nature"  could  take  place.  The  image  might 
be  an  exact  reproduction  of  some  portion  of  past  expe- 
rience, or  it  might  be  composed  of  such  a  recombina- 
tion of  the  elements  of  experience,  as  by  conforming 
more  nearly  to  the  sense  of  beauty  than  the  actuality 
gave  greater  immediate  pleasure.  This  immediate 
pleasure  was  the  only  result  of  the  imaginative  pro- 
cess. The  imagination  was  unrelated  to  action,  and 
hence  did  not  arouse  the  feelings  and  passions.  It 
opposed  the  integrity  of  the  senses,  and  rendered  im- 
possible accuracy  of  knowledge;  it  was  lawless,  and 
tended  toward  over-exuberance,  conceit,  and  mere  or- 
nament. Imagination  was,  indeed,  in  a  sense,  the  life  of 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     153 

poetry,  but  the  form  in  which  this  life  revealed '  itself 
was  determined  almost  wholly  by  the  judgment.  Im- 
agination might  furnish  the  poetical  incentive,  but  judg- 
ment was  the  artist  that  gave  it  expression. 

Eor  after  the  object  is  removed,  or  the  eye  shut,  we  still  retain  an 
image  of  the  thing  seen,  though  more  obscure  than  when  we  saw 
it.  And  this  is  it  the  Latins  call  imagination,  from  the  image 
made  in  seeing.  .  .  .  Imagination,  therefore,  is  nothing  but  de- 
caying sense.  .  .  .  This  decaying  sense,  when  we  would  express 
the  thing  itself,  ...  we  call  imagination ;  but  when  we  would 
express  the  decay  ...  it  is  called  memory.  HOBBES,  III., 
pp.  4-6. 

For  imagination  in  a  poet  is  a  faculty  so  wild  and  lawless  that,  like 
an  high  ranging  spaniel,  it  must  have  clogs  tied  to  it,  lest  it  out- 
run the  judgment.  1664.  DRYDEN,  II.,  p.  138. 

Wit  ...  is  the  faculty  of  imagination  in  the  writer,  which,  like  a 
nimble  spaniel,  beats  over  and  ranges  through  the  field  of  mem- 
ory, till  it  springs  the  quarry  it  hunted  after.  1666.  ID.,  IX., 
pp.  95,  96. 

He  affects  plainness  to  cover  his  want  of  imagination.  1668.  ID., 
XV.,  p.  288. 

An  heroic  poet  is  not  tied  to  a  bare  representation  of  what  is  true 
or  exceeding  probable ;  but  that  he  may  let  himself  loose  to 
visionary  objects,  and  to  the  representation  of  such  things,-  as 
depending  not  on  sense,  and  therefore  not  to  be  comprehended 
by  knowledge,  may  give  him  a  freer  scope  for  imagination. 
1669.  ID.,  IV.,  p.  23. 

Imaging  is  in  itself  the  very  height  and  life  of  poetry.  1674. 
ID.,  V.,  p.  120. 

The  dream  I  am  now  going  to  relate  is  as  wild  as  can  well  be  im- 
agined, and  adapted  to  please  these  refiners  upon  sleep,  without 
any  moral  that  I  can  discover.  SWIFT,  IX.,  p.  56. 

To  make  brick  without  straw  or  stubble  is  perhaps  an  easier  labour 
than  to  prove  morals  without  a  world,  and  establish  a  conduct 
of  life  without  the  supposition  of  anything  living  or  extant  be- 
sides our  immediate  fancy  and  world  of  imagination.  SHAFTES- 

Y,  HI.,  p.  147. 


154     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Pleasures  of  the  imagination  of  two  kinds :  — 

I.  Primary,  which  proceed  entirely  from  such  objects  as  are 
before  our  eyes. 

II.  Secondary,  The  objects  are  called  up  in  our  memories,  or 
formed  into  agreeable  visions  of  things  that  are  either  ab- 
sent or  fictitious.     1712.     ADDISON,  III.,  p.  394. 

Imagination  from  actual  view  of  objects  arises  from  the  sight  of 
what  is :  — 
I.    Great,  —  e.  g.  the  desert  or  ocean,  —  a  single  view. 

II.  Uncommon,  —  "Fills  the  soul  with  an  agreeable  surprise." 

III.  Beautiful,  —  Most  direct  appeal  to  the  soul. 

1712.    ID.,  III.,  p.  397. 

The  understanding  opens  an  infinite  space  on  every  side  of  us,  but 
the  imagination,  after  a  few  faint  efforts,  is  immediately  at  a 
stand,  and  finds  herself  swallowed  up  in  the  immensity  of  the 
void  that  surrounds  it.  ID.,  III.,  p.  427. 

When  the  affections  are  moved,  there  is  no  place  for  the  imagina- 
tion. 1742.  D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  242. 

The  force  of  imagination,  the  energy  of  expression,  the  power  of 
numbers,  the  charms  of  imitation:  all  these  are  naturally  of 
themselves  delightful  to  the  mind.  ID.,  pp.  263,  264. 

One  obvious  cause  why  many  feel  not  the  proper  sentiment  of 
beauty,  is  the  want  of  that  delicacy  of  imagination  which  is 
requisite  to  convey  a  sensibility  of  those  finer  emotions.  ID. 
L,  p.  272. 

The  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  period 
of  transition.  The  imagination  was  a  vivid  imaging 
AS  a  vivid  ^.procesjS,  — a  process  so  intense  and  vivid  that 

imaging 

process.  it  seemed  to  represent  a  reality,  thus  arous- 
ing the  passions  and  forming,  as  it  were,  a  world  of 
beauty  of  its  own.  This  was  the  world  of  poetry,  which 
faded  away  before  the  advance  of  science  and  learning. 
(Sec  u  Poetical.")  Imagination  was  thus  in  a  sense  op- 
posed to  the  reason,  but  this  opposition  was  viewed 
from  the  historical  standpoint  rather  than  from  the 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.     155 

psychological.  It  was  usually  far  off,  remote  from 
ordinary  life  that  the  imagination  painted  its  pictures, 
and  produced  the  temporary  poetical  illusion.  This 
illusion,  however,  was  a  mere  illusion,  it  did  not  react 
upon  conduct ;  it  served  only  as  a  means  of  produc- 
ing immediate  pleasure. 

Poetry  cannot  dwell  upon  the  minuter  distinctions  by  which  one 
species  differs  from  another,  without  departing  from  that  sim- 
plicity of  grandeur  which  fills  the  imagination.  1750.  S. 
JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  178. 

We  can  always  feel  more  than  we  can  imagine,  and  the  most  artful 
fiction  must  give  way  to  truth.  1753.  ID.,  IV.,  p.  79. 

It  is  a  creative  and  glowing  imagination,  and  that  alone,  that  can 
stamp  a  writer  with  this  exalted  and  very  uncommon  character, 
which  so  few  possess,  and  of  which  so  few  can  properly  judge. 
1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  ii. 

Such  circumstances  as  are  best  adapted  to  strike  the  imagination 
by  lively  pictures  .  .  .  the  selection  of  which  chiefly  constitutes 
true  poetry.  ID.,  p.  26. 

Pope's  close  and  constant  reasoning  had  impaired  and  crushed  the 
faculty  of  imagination.  ID.,  p.  276. 

If  the  imagination  be  lively  the  passions  will  be  strong.  ID., 
p.  102. 

Ignorance  and  superstition,  so  opposite  to  the  real  interests  of  hu- 
man society,  are  the  parents  of  imagination.  1778.  T.  WAR- 
TON,  H.  E.  P.,  p.  626. 

The  poet  has  a  world  of  his  own,  where  experience  has  less  to  do 
than  consistent  imagination.  1762.  HURD,  IV.,  p.  324. 

And  as  art  is  merely  a  pleasure  of  the  imagination,  it  is  much 
higher  than  any  that  is  derived  from  a  rectitude  of  the  judgment ; 
the  judgment  is  for  the  greater  part  employed  in  throwing 
stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  the  imagination,  in  dissipating 
the  scenes  of  its  enchantment,  and  in  tying  us  down  to  the  disa- 
greeable yoke  of  our  reason.  1756.  BURKE,  I.,  p.  65. 

The  imagination  is  the  most  extended  province  of  pleasure  and 
pain,  as  it  is  the  region  of  our  fears  and  our  hopes,  and  of  all 
our  passions  that  are  connected  with  them.  ID.,  p.  58. 


156     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Waller  borrows  too  many  of  his  sentiments  and  illustrations  from 
the  old  mythology,  for  which  it  is  vain  to  plead  the  example  of 
ancient  poets ;  the  deities  which  they  introduced  so  frequently 
were  considered  as  realities  so  far  as  to  be  received  by  the  im- 
agination, whatever  sober  reason  might  even  then  determine. 
1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  216. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century,  the 
imagination  was  considered  as  an  ideal- making  pro- 
AS  an  ideal-  cess,  producing  ideals  which  were  not  a  mere 

ized  artistic 

process.  means  lor  creating  a  poetical  illusion,  but 
were  a  constant  and  normal  influence  in  all  conduct, 
which  therefore  excited  the  passions,  and  which  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  controlled  even  perception.  As  a 
mental  process,  the  imagination  represented  a  fusion  or 
unification  of  the  powers  of  the  mind,  a  blending  of  all 
the  mental  capacities  in  the  intuition  or  reconstruction 
of  an  ideal.  As  in  the  case  of  genius  the  intense  unifi- 
cation of  the  mental  powers  produced  results  which  could 
only  be  apprehended  as  results,  and  thus  the  imagination 
was  said  to  be  "unconscious,"  to  disclose  "hidden  anal- 
ogies," to  be  an  instinct,  a  revelation,  to  work  like  nature 
itself.  The  imagination  also  gave  the  artistic  sense  of 
power  and  movement,  —  movement  which  carried  to  an 
undue  extent  resulted  in  the  fantastic  and  the  grotesque. 
The  imagination,  considered  as  a  mere  picturing  process, 
was  now  called  the  passive  imagination,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  active  imagination,  which  transformed  these 
pictures  into  living  things,  thus  giving  the  basis  for  sym- 
pathy, which  identified  beauty  with  truth,  —  at  least 
with  future  truth,  (see  "Truth"),  - —  and  which  furnished  a 
means  for  the  mental  representation  not  only  of  feel- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     157 

ings  and  passions,  which  point  toward  the  future,  or  of 
action  historically  considered,  but  also  of  passion  grow- 
ing into  action  and  of  action  resolving  itself  into  pas- 
sion. Imagination  thus  gave  a  unified  view  of  life ; 
still  it  was  confined  to  poetry,  and  was  not  usually  sup- 
posed to  assist  in  its  own  verbal  expression. 

The  primary  imagination  I  hold  to  be  the  living  power  and  prime 
agent  of  all  human  perception,  and  as  a  repetition  in  the  finite 
mind  of  the  eternal  act  of  creation  in  the  infinite  "  I  Am."  The 
secondary  is  an  echo  of  the  former,  idciitica]  in  kind,  but  differ- 
ing JjMlegreej  and  in  %L  ™od£  °f  its  operation.  It  jissplYes, 
^diffuses,  dissipates,  in  order  to  recreate.  1817.  COLERIDGE, 
III.,  p.  363. 

The  poet  described  in  ideal  perfection  brings  the  whole  soul  of 
man  into  activity  with  the  subordination  of  its  faculties  to  each 
other  according  to  their  relative  worth  and  dignity.  He  diffuses 
a  tone  and  spirit  of  unity  that  blends,  and,  as  it  were,  fu^esjeach 
into  each,  by  that  synthetical  and  magical  power  to  which  I 
would  exclusively  appropriate  the  name  of  imagination.  1817. 
ID.,  p.  374. 

Imagination  seems  insufficient  of  itself  to  produce  diction  always 
vivid  and  poetipal,  without  the  aid  of  human  passion  and  worldly 
observation.  1815.  WILSON,  V.,  p.  395. 

What  the  imagination  seizes  as  beauty  must  be  truth,  whether  it 
existed  before  or  not.  .  .  .  The  imagination  may  be  compared 
to  Adam's  dream ;  he  awoke  and  found  it  truth.  1817.  KEATS, 
Letters,  pp.  41,  42. 

This  intuitive  perception  of  the  hidden  analogies  of  things,  or,  as 
it  may  be  called,  this  instinct  of  the  imagination,  is,  perhaps, 
what  stamps  the  character  of  genius  on  the  productions  of  art 
more  than  any  other  circumstance :  for  it  works  unconsciously 
like  nature,  and  receives  its  impressions  from  a  kind  of  inspira- 
tion. 1819.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  147. 

We  want  the  creative  faculty  to  imagine  that  which  we  know ;  we 
want  the  generous  impulse  to  act  that  which  we  imagine.  1821, 
SHELLEY,  VII.,  p.  135. 


158     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

A  man  to  be  greatly  good  must  imagine  intensely  and  comprehen- 
sively, ...  go  ont  of  his  own  nature  and  identify  himself  with 
beauty  not  his  own.  1821.  ID.,  p.  111. 

Among  the  writers  of  luxuriant  and  florid  prose,  however  rich  and 
fanciful,  there  never  was  one  who  wrote  good  poetry.  Imagi- 
nation seems  to  start  back  when  they  would  lead  her  into  a  nar- 
rower walk ;  and  to  forsake  them  at  the  first  prelude  of  the  lyre. 
1824.  LANDOR,  II.,  p.  186. 

They  do  not  create,  which  implies  shaping  and  consistency.  Their 
imaginations  are  not  active,  —  for  to  be  active  is  to  call  some- 
thing into  act  and  form,  —  but  passive,  as  men  in  sick  dreams. 
1826.  LAMB,  Elia,  p.  252. 

A  true  work  of  art  requires  to  be  fused  in  the  mind  of  its  creator, 
and,  as  it  were,  poured  forth  (from  his  imagination,  though  not 
from  his  pen)  at  one  simultaneous  gush.  1827'  CARLYLE,  I., 
p.  18. 

Poets  have  penetrated  into  the  mystery  of  nature  .  .  .  and  thus 
can  the  spirit  of  our  age,  embodied  in  fair  imagination,  look  forth 
on  us.  1827.  ID.,  p.  56. 

It  is  well  known  that  we  create  nine-tenths  at  least  of  what  ap- 
pears to  exist  externally ;  and  such  is  somewhere  about  the  pro- 
portion between  reality  and  imagination.  1832.  WILSON,  VI., 
p.  109. 

In  this  way  has  imagination  at  all  times  blended  itself  with  the 
passion  of  sorrow.  The  strong  feeling  in*  which  the  mind  begins 
to  work  is  the  wound  of  its  own  loss.  ID.,  VIII.,  p.  265. 

Imagination  .  .  .  purely  so  ^called  is  all  feeling :  the  feeling  of  the 
subtlest  and  most  affecting  analogies ;  the  perception  of  sympa- 
thies in  the  nature  of  things  or  in  their  popular  attributes. 
1844.  HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy,  p.  26. 

*  That  magnificent  condition  of  fantastic  imagination  which  ...  is 
one  of  the  chief  elements  of  the  Northern  Gothic  mind.  1846. 
RUSKIN,  St.  of  Venice,  p.  154. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century, 
imagination  has  usually  been  considered  as  an  artis- 
AS  an  artis-  ^c  process,  which  is  in  close  relation  with 
ic  process.  ^  intellectual  powers  of  the  mind.  It 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     159 

not  only  gives  unity  to  the  mental  conception  of  the 
literary  work,  but  it  aids  also  in  expressing  this  gen- 
eral conception  in  definite  images  and  in  words.  It  is 
guarded  from  excesses  by  an  inherent  sense  of  "  form," 
without  which  it  ceases  to  be  imagination.  Imagina- 
tion gives  body,  as  it  were,  to  the  reason,  and  reason 
gives  the  general  outlines  to  the  imaginative  process. 
The  two  processes  are  indispensable  to  each  other. 
Hence  the  imagination  finds  literary  expression  in 
prose  as  well  as  in  poetry.  During  nearly  all  the 
present  century,  "  imagination  "  has  been  employed  to 
explain  the  origin  of  literature,  even  as  "  imitation " 
had  previously  been  employed.  The  distinctions  be- 
tween the  two  views,  however,  belong  to  theoretical 
rather  than  to  applied  criticism.  As  an  active  critical 
term,  "  imagination "  has  not  been  so  much  in  use 
during  the  latter  portion  of  the  century  as  it  was  dur- 
ing the  earlier  portion. 

The  feat  of  the  imagination  is  in  showing  the  convertibility  of 
every  thing  into  every  other  thing.  Facts  which  had  never 
before  left  their  stark  common  sense  suddenly  figure  as  Eleu- 
sinian  mysteries.  1860.  EMERSON,  Conduct  of  Life,  p.  289. 

But  the  main  element  of  the  modern  spirit's  life  is  neither  the 
senses  and  understanding,  nor  the  heart  and  imagination ;  it  is 
the  imaginative  reason.  And  there  is  a  century  in  Greek  life, 
the  century  preceding  the  Peloponnesian  war,  ...  in  which 
poetry  made,  it  seems  to  me,  the  noblest,  the  most  successful 
effort  she  has  ever  made  as  the  priestess  of  the  imaginative 
reason.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.  1st  S.,  pp.  220,  221. 

Wordsworth  was  wholly  void  of  that  shaping  imagination  which  is 
the  highest  criterion  of  a  poet.  1866.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  78. 

In  poets,  this  liability  to  be  possessed  by  the  creations  of  their  own 
brains  is  limited  and  proportioned  by  the  artistic  sense,  and  the 


1GO     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

imagination  thus  truly  becomes  the  shaping  faculty,  while  in  less 
regulated  or  coarser  organizations  it  dwells  forever  in  the  Nifel- 
heim  of  phantasmagoria  and  dream.  1868.  ID.,  p.  321. 

Lamb  .  .  .  had  more  sympathy  with  imagination  where  it  gathers 
into  the  intense  focus  of  passionate  phrase,  than  with  that  higher 
form  of  it,  where  it  is  the  faculty  that  shapes,  gives  unity  of 
design,  and  balanced  gravitation  of  parts.  1868.  ID.,  III., 
p.  30. 

Imagination  has  ...  its  seat  in  the  higher  reason,  and  it  is  effi- 
cient only  as  the  servant  of  the  will.  ID.,  p.  31. 

In  that  secondary  office  of  imagination,  where  it  serves  the  artist, 
not  as  the  reason  that  shapes,  but  as  the  interpreter  of  his  con- 
ceptions into  words,  there  is  a  distinction  to  be  noticed  between 
the  higher  and  lower  mode  in  which  it  performs  its  fund  ion.  It 
may  be  either  creative  or  pictorial,  may  body  forth  the  thought 
or  merely  image  it  forth.  With  Shakespeare,  for  example,  im- 
agination seems  imminent  in  his  very  consciousness ;  with  Milton 
in  his  memory.  1868.  ID.,  p.  40. 

There  is  an  essential  difference  between  imaginative  production  in 
verse,  and  imaginative  production  in  prose,  that  will  not  permit 
both  to  be  called  by  the  common  name  of  poetry.  M.  ARNOLD, 
Mixed  Essays,  p.  435. 

A  vigorous  grasp  of  realities  is  rather  a  proof  of  a  powerful  than  a 
defective  imagination.  1874.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  283. 

To  identify  in  prose  what  we  call  poetry,  the  imaginative  power. 
1888.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  2. 

There  is  an  imagination  of  the  intellect,  and  its  utterance  is  of  a 
very  high   order,  —  often   the   prophecy    of    inspiration    itself. 
1892.     STEDMAN,  Nature  of  Poetry,  p.  211. 
IMITATION  (XXIIL). 

Early  in  ancient  criticism,  poetry  was  denned  as  a 
result  of  the  tendency  in  the  mind  to  imitate,  to  repro- 
duce or  represent  human  life  and  human  achievement, 
and  this  definition  exerted  a  strong  influence  upon  the 
methods  of  English  criticism  until  the  middle  of  the 
present  century.  In  Latin  criticism  "  imitation  "  was 


.4   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     161 

usually  employed  to  designate  either  a  copying  among 
authors,  or/  oratorical  mimicry,  —  the  forensic  portrayal  f 
of  human  manners  and  character.  The  oratorical  sig- 
nificance of  "  imitation  "  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in 
English  criticism.  The  term  has  uniformly  indicated 
either  the  representation  of  nature,  life,  or  experience, 
or  the  copying  among  authors. 

As  signifying  the  reproduction  of  experience  in  lit- 
erary form  four  general  stages  may  perhaps  be  distin- 
guished in  the  history  of  the  term.     JJntil  AS  representa- 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  "  imi-  tl( 
tation"  was  usually  thought  to  be  a  sufficient 


tioja  for  all  poetry.  But  that  which  was  to  be  imitated 
transcended  any  ordinary  conception  of  nature,  life,  or 
experience.  What  was  imitated  was  really  ideals,  often 
abstract,  rigid,  and  conventional  in  their  nature,  and 
this  could  be  accomplished  only  by  means  of  imagina- 
tion and  suggestion. 

Poetry  is  an  art  of  imitation,  for  so  Aristotle  termeth  it  in  his 
word,  .  .  .  that  is  to  say,  a  representing,  a  counterfeiting,  or 
figuring  forth  .  .  .  three  kinds  : 

I.  Imitate  the  inconceivable  excellencies  of  God. 
II.  Imitate  matters  philosophical. 

III.  Imitate  what  shall  be  and  should  be  to  teach  and  delight. 

1583.     SIDNEY,  p.  9. 

To  imitate,  borrow  nothing  of  what  is,  hath  been,  or  shall  be  ;  but 
range  .  .  .  into  the  divine  consideration  of  what  may  be  and 
should  be.  ID.,  p.  10. 

Poesy  is  an  art  not  only  of  making  but  also  of  imitation.  ...  A 
poet  may  in  some  sort  be  said  a  follower  or  imitator,  because  he 
can  express  the  true  and  lively  of  everything  is  set  before  him. 

1585.       PUTTENHAM,  p.  20. 

Whatsoever  a  man  speaks  or  persuades,  he  doth  it  not  by  imitation 
11 


162       A    HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

artificially,  but  by  observation  naturally  (though  one  follow  an- 
other), because  it  is  both  the  same  and  the  like  that  nature  doth 
suggest;  but  if  a  popinjay  speaks  she  doth  it  by  imitation  of 
man's  voice  artificially  and  not  naturally  .  .  .  but  not  the  same 
that  nature  doth  suggest  tq  man.  ID.,  p.  312. 

The  second  period  extends  until  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Characters  and  sentiments_as 
AS  represen-  manifested  in  action  constituted  the  chief 

tation  of  '. 

character.  subject-matter  ot  imitation.  As  in  ancient 
criticism,  experience  was  considered  historically,  not 
ideally.  Imitation,  however,  was  uot  usually  thought 
to  be  a  complete  explanation  for  poetry,  nor  did  the 

mental  process,  by  means  of  which  imitation  takes  place, 
receive  attention. 

The  poet  is  a  "maker"  by  reason  of  his  being  an  imitator,  and 
what  he  imitates  is  action,  ARISTOTLE,  Poetics,  p.  31. 

A  play  is  still  an  imitation  of  nature ;  we  know  we  are  to  be  de- 
ceived, and  we  desire  to  be  so ;  but  no  man  ever  was  deceived 
but  with  a  probability  of  truth.  1668.  DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  120. 

All  that  is  dull,  insipid,  languishing,  and  without  sinews  in  a  poem 
is  called  an  imitation  of  nature  .  .  .  and  lively  images  and  elo- 
cution are  never  to  be  forgiven.  1674.  ID.,  V.,  p.  120. 

To  imitate  well  is  a  poet's  work ;  but._to  affect  the  soul,  and  excife 
the  passions,  and  above  all  to  move  admiration  ...  a  bare  iini- 
taUoiijdlLBQt^erve^  1667.  ID.,  II.,  p.  384. 

I  shall  quote  several  passages  (of  Chevy-Chase)  in  which  the 
thought  is  altogether  the  same  with  what  we  meet  in  several 
passages  of  the  jEneid ;  not  that  I  would  infer  from  thence 
that  the  poet  (whoever  he  was)  proposed  to  himself  any  imita- 
tion of  those  passages,  but  that  he  was  directed  to  them  in 
general  by  the  same  kind  of  poetical  genius  and  by  the  same 
copyings  after  nature.  1710.  ADDISON,  II.,  p.  384. 

The  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  period 
of  transition.  The  phrase  u  imitation  of  nature"  came 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       163 

to  represent  both  originality  and  invention,  and   thus 

again  "  imitation "  was  regarded  as  a  full  explanation 

— a--. — — —         ^^«^ 

for  poetry.     The  mental    process  of  "  imita-  AS  represen- 

x  • tation  of 

tion,"  however,  was  not  directly  defined.         "nature." 

This  primary  or  original  copying,  which  in  the  ideas  of  philosophy 
is  Imitation,  is,  in  the  language  of  criticism,  called  invention. 
1751.  HURD,  II.,  p.  111. 

Nothing  is  an  imitation  further  than  as  it  resembles  some  other 
thing ;  and  words,  undoubtedly,  have  no  sort  of  resemblance  to 
the  ideas  for  which  they  stand.  .  .  .v  Poetry  is_an  imitation  only     "N 
in  so  far  as  it  describes  the  manners  and  passions  of  men  which 
their  words  can  express.     1756.     BURKE,  I.,  p.  178. 

I  will  not  presume  to  say  .  .  .  descriptive  poetry  ...  is  equal 
either  in  dignity  or  utility  to_Jbhcj>e__cpj^^ 
the  internal  constitution  of  man,  and  that  imitate  characters, 
manners,  and  sentiments.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  49. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  imitations,  one  of  nature,  the  other  of 
authors.  The  first  we  call  originals,  and  confine  the  term  imi- 
tation to  the  second.  1759.  GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  365. 

If  the  father  of  criticism  has  rightly  denominated  poetry  ...  an 
imitative  art,  the  metaphysical  poets  will  without  great  wrong 
lose  their  right  to  the  name  of  poets ;  for  they  cannot  be  said  to 
have  imitated  anything;  they"  neither  copied  nature  nor  iife;L 
neither  painted  the  form  of  matter,  nor  representedtheop 
turns  of  intellect.  1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  15. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  present  century  the  pro- 
cess   of   imitation   and   the    imaginative    activity   were 
often  identified  with  each  other.     The  poet  Ag  re  resen 
must  imitate  the  ^spirit  of   nature,  he  must  1^°% spirit6' 
represent  character  and  sentiment  by  means  ° 
of   a  S£mj)jy^^  When  thus 

employed,  however,  the  term  u  imitation  "  had  evidently 
acquired  a  meaning,  quite  at  variance  with  its  more 
primary  and  fundamental  significance.  During  the  last 


164      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

half  of  the  century,  this  general  use  of  the  term  is 
scarcely  to  be  found  in  actual  criticism. 

>The  artist  must  imitate  that  which  is  within  the  thing,  that  which 
is  active  through  form  and  figure,  and  discourses  to  us  by  sym- 
bols, the  Natur-geist,  or  spirit  of  nature,  as  we  unconsciously 
imitate  those  whom  we  love.  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  333. 

The  truth  is,  painting  and  sculpture  are,  literally,  imitative  arts, 
while  poetry  is  metaphorically  so.  ...  I  would  rather  call 
poetry  a  suggestive  art.  1825.  ID.,  Prose,  I.,  p.  5. 

The  objects  of  the  imitation  of  poetry  are  the  whole  external  and 
the  whole  internal  universe,  the  face  of  nature,  the  vicissitudes 
of  fortune,  man  as  he  is  in  himself,  man  as  he  appears  in  society, 
all  things  which  really  exist,  all  things  of  which  we  can  form  an 
image  in  our  minds  by  combining  together  parts  of  things  which 
really  exist.  The  domain  of  this  imperial  art  is  commensurate 
with  the  imaginative  faculty.  1830.  MA.CAULAY,  I.,  p.  476. 

Sympathy  is  one  of  the  strengths  of  the  poet's  soul;  and  sympa- 
thy, at  its  height  and  depth,  works  into  imitation.  Imitation, 
therefore,  is  proof,  power,  test,  trial,  growth,  and  result,  cause 
and  effect,  of  original  genius.  1832.  WILSON,  VIII.,  p.  266. 

The  second  general  meaning  of  "imitation"  —its  use 
to  represent  the  influence  of  authors  upon  one  another 
AS  free  trans-  —  occurs  in  actual  criticism  far  more  fre- 
™tf-*'  quently  than  the  use  of  the  term  just  given. 

The  imitation  of  authors  is  found  mentioned  in  two 
different  connections,  giving  to  the  term,  perhaps, 
slightly  different  shades  of  meaning.  In  early  English 
criticism,  "imitation"  often  denoted  a  free  method  of 
translation  in  opposition  to  a  more  literal  method,  —  a 
translation,  as  it  were,  of  the  spirit  of  an  author  rather 
than  of  his  exact  words. 

There  be  six  ways  appointed  by  the  best  learned  men  for  the  learn- 
ing of  tongues,  and  increase  of  eloquence :  as,  1.  Translatio 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     165 

linguarum;  2.  Paraphrasis;  3.  Metaphrasis ;  4.  Epitome; 
5.  Imitatio;  6.  Declamatio.  1568.  ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  174. 

The  unaptness  of  our  tongues  and  the  difficulty  of  imitation  dis- 
heartens us.  CAMPION,  p.  233. 

Three  ways  of  translating :  1.  Metaphrase,  exact,  literal ;  2.  Para- 
phrase ;  3.  Imitation,  where  the  translator  assumes  the  liberty, 
not  only  to  vary  from  the  words  and  sense,  but  to  forsake  them 
both  as  he  sees  occasion,  and  taking  only  some  general  hints 
from  the  original,  to  run  divisions  on  the  groundwork  as  he 
pleases.  1680.  DRYDEN,  XII.,  p.  16. 

Imitation  gives  us  a  much  better  idea  of  the  ancients  than  ever 
translation  could  do.  1767.  GOLDSMITH,  V.,  p.  155. 

Imitation  of  authors,  however,  is  usually  made  an 
opposing  term,  not  to  literal  translation,  but  to  origi- 
nality. Discredit  is  thrown  upon  the  imita-  AS  copying  of 

one  author  by 

tion  in  so  far  as  it  is  restricted  to  mere  form  another. 
of  expression;  but  in  so  far  as  the  imitation  is  a  repro- 
duction of  the  general  method,  thought,  and  spirit  of 
an  author,  the  disapproval  tends  to  pass  away  from  the 
term.  But  the  highest  gifts  of  authorship,  it  has  been 
universally  recognized,  are  not  to  be  attained  even  by 
this  form  of  imitation.  This  use  of  imitation  occurs 
more  frequently  at  some  periods  of  English  criticism 
than  at  others,  but  there  has  perhaps  been  no  variation 
in  its  meaning. 

A  great  portion  of  art  consists  in  imitation,  since  though  to  invent 
was  first  in  order  of  time,  and  holds  the  first  place  in  merit,  yet 
it  is  of  advantage  to  copy  what  has  been  invented  with  success. 
QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  278. 

Three  kinds  of  imitation : 

1.  A  fair,  lively  painted  picture  of  the  life  of  every  degree  of 

man.     Cf.  Plato  III.,  "De  Uepublica." 

2.  To  follow  for  learning  of  tongues  and  sciences  the  best  authors. 


166     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS, 

3.  Whether  to  follow  one  or  more,  .  .  .  which  way,  ...  in 
what  place,  by  what  mean,  and  order,  e.  g.,  as  Virgil  fol- 
lowed Homer.  ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  213. 

Describe  not  the  morning  and  rising  of  the  sun  in  the  preface  of 
yonr  verse ;  for  these  things  are  so  oft  and  so  diversely  written 
upon  by  poets  already,  that  if  ye  do  the  like,  it  will  appear  ye 
but  imitate,  and  that  it  comes  not  of  your  own  invention,  which 
is  one  of  the  chief  properties  of  a  poet.  1585.  K.  JAMES, 
pp.  112,  113. 

It  is  not  reading,  it  is  not  imitation  of  an  author,  which  can  pro- 
duce this  fineness;  it  must  be  inborn.  1693.  DIIYDEN,  XIII., 
p.  97. 

What  Tacitus  has  said  in  five  words,  I  imagine  I  have  said  in  fifty 
lines.  Such  is  the  misfortune  of  imitating  the  inimitable.  1742. 
GRAY,  II.,  pp.  109,  110. 

To  admire  on  principle  is  the  only  way  to  imitate  without  loss  of 
originality.  1817-  COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  203. 

Shakespeare's  style  never  curdles  into  mannerism,  and  thus  abso- 
lutely eludes  imitation.  LOWELL,  III.,  p.  36. 

It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  select  the  worst  parts  of  his  models  for 
imitation.  SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxiv. 

The  exquisite  grace  and  charm  of  Lamb,  springing  in  part  no 

doubt  from  an  imitation  of  the  unreformed  writers  .  .  .  had 

yet  in  it  so  much  of  idiosyncrasy  that  it  has  never  been  and  is 

never  likely  to  be  successfully  imitated.     ID.,  p.  xxxiv. 

Impalpable   (XXII.)  b\   Impalpable  and  indefinable.      SWINBURNE, 

Ks.  &  St.,  p.  11. 
IMPASSIONED  (XV.). 

The  term  "  impassioned,"  as  employed  during  the 
present  century,  denotes  poetical  passion  which  is  in- 
tense and  sustained.  (See  "Passion.")  The  emotion 
which  it  represents  is  not  usually  impetuous,  but  is 
so  diffused  as  to  give  coherency  and  unity  to  the 
whole  literary  production.  The  impassioned  designates 
the  emotion  which  accompanies  an  intense  interest  in 
the  beauty  of  mental  imagery,  and  of  ideals.  It  does 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     167 

not  incite  to  the  realization  of  an  ideal  so  much  as  to 
the  most  perfect  conception  and  statement  of  that  ideal. 

Bold  and  impassioned  elevations  of  tragedy.     T.  WARTON,  p.  886. 
Poetry  is  the  impassioned  expression  which  is  in  the  countenance 

of  all  science.     1798.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  91. 
Impassioned  lines : 

Then  let  me  hug  and  press  thee  into  life, 

And  lend  thee  motion  from  my  beating  heart.  — L.  Winchelsea. 

1830.     ID.,  III.,  p.  300. 
Impassioned,    lofty,    and    sustained    diction.      COLERIDGE,    111., 

p.  365. 

Impassioned  poetry  is  an  emanation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
part  of  our  nature,  as  well  as  of  the  sensitive,  —  of  the  desire  to 
know,  the  will  to  act,  and  the  power  to  feel.  1818.  HAZLITT, 
Eng.  Poets,  p.  8. 

Poetical  and  impassioned.     ID.,  El.  Lit.,  p.  56. 
Spirited  and  impassioned.'    ID.,  Table  Talk,  p.  245. 
The  soul  of  poetry  is  impassioned  imagination.     WHIPPLE,  Lit.  of 

Age  of  EL,  p.  217. 

Impassioned  contemplation.     P\TER,  Ap.,  p.  59. 
Impassioned  meditation.     MINTO,  Char,  of  Eng.  Poets,  p.  169. 
Impeccable  (XXII.)  a:   Impeccable   ideal  line.      ROSSKTTI,  Lives, 

p.  78. 

Imperial  (XI.) :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Impetuous  (XII.):  Blair  to  present. 

Impetuous,  graceful  power.     CARLYLE,  IV.,  p.  130. 
Imposing  (XL):  Jef.,  Chan.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  55. 
Impressive  (XL):  Poe  to  present.     Stephen,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  57- 
Impulsive  (XII.):  Hunt  to  present. 

Richardson's  nature  is  always  the  nature  of  sentiment  and  reflec- 
tion, not  of  impulse  or  situation.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers, 
p.  160. 

Inanity  (XII.):  Inanity  and  careless  workmanship.     GOSSE,  Seven- 
teenth Cent.  St.,  p.  233. 

Inavertible  (XXII.)  a:  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  103. 
Inchoate  (II.):  Ros.,  Saints. 

Inchoate  method  of  execution.     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to  Blake,  p.  cxvii. 


168     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Incisive  (XX.)  b:  Swin.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  138. 
Inconstant  (XIX.):  The  first  defect  of  Wordsworth's  poems  is  the 

inconstancy  of  the  style.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  462. 
Indefinable  (III.):   Impalpable  and  indefinable.       SWINBURNE,  Es. 

&  St.,  p.  11. 

Individual:  Jef.  to  present.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  144. 
Indolence  (XII.) :  Jef.,  Gosse. 

A  golden  indolence,  akin  to  the  hazy  beauty  of  a  summer  after- 
noon.    GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  67. 
Ineptitude:  Gosse,  Prom  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  216. 
Inevitable  (VIII.):  Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  5. 
Infantile  (XII.):  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  187. 
Inflated  (XIX.)  6:  J.  War.  to  present. 

Unnatural,  false,  inflated,  and  florid  style.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  200. 
Ingenious  (XXIII.) :  Mil.  to  present. 

With  an  ingenious  flattery  of  nature.     DRYDEN,  II.,  p.  296. 
Ingenuous  (VII.):  T.  Arn.  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

Simplicity  being  true  is  ingenuous.     Ingenuousness  is  the  coun- 
tenance of  truth.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  62. 
Inimitable  (XXII.)  a:  Jef.  to  present. 

The  inimitable  note  of  instinct.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  62. 
Ink-home  (I.):  T.  Wil.,  Ascham,  Put 

Never  affect  strange  inkhorn  terms.     T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  171. 

Many  inkhorne  terms  so  ill-affected,  brought  in  by  men  of  learning, 

as  preachers  and  schoolmasters.     TOTTENHAM,  p.  158. 
Innocence  (XIV.):  Jef.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  70. 
Insight  (XXIII. ):  The  harsh  direct  narrative  of  Defoe,  without  sym- 
pathy or  insight.     GOSSE,  Eighteenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  385. 

As  spontaneous  as  insight.     STEDMAN,  Nature  of  Poetry,  p.  47. 
Insipid  (XII.):  Hobbes  to  present. 

That  which  fatigues  from  being   too  commonplace ; 
without  originality  or  feeling. 

The  phrases  of  poetry,  as  the  airs  of  music,  with  often  hearing, 

become  insipid.     HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  455. 
Flimsy  and  insipid  decorum.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  102. 
Cold  and  insipid  works.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  pp.  62,  63. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     169 

Inspired  (XV.):  Shaftes.  to  present. 

There  is  more  of  Rhetoric  than  of  inspiration  about  him.  JEF- 
FREY, II.,  p.  405. 

Instructive  (XX.) :  Dry.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  268. 
Integrity:  J.  War.     Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  89. 
INTELLECTUAL  (XX.)  b. 

For  about  a  century  the  word  "intellectual"  has 
been  very  generally  employed  in  defining  wit  and  sen- 
timent, and  as  a  complementary  expression  to  the  im- 
agination, the  emotions,  and  occasionally  to  the  will. 
Its  unity  with  the  other  mental  powers  has  usually 
received  emphasis  rather  than  its  opposition  to  them. 
It  represents  not  so  much  conscious  elaboration  and 
abstraction  as  a  careful  meditative  attitude  of  mind, 
and  native  logical  acuteness  and  penetration.  The  use 
of  the  word  u  intellectual "  as  an  active  critical  term 
marks  the  transference  of  psychological  terminology 
and  methods  into  criticism. 

Impassioned  poetry  is  an  emanation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
part  of  our  nature  as  well  as  of  the  sensitive.  HAZLLTT,  Eng. 
Poets,  p.  8. 

Tennyson's  poetry  is  characterized  by  intellectual  intensity  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  intensity  of  feeling.  WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev., 
I.,  p.  339. 

Sentiment  is  intellectualized  emotion.     LOWELL,  II.,  p.  252. 

Perhaps  the  main  constituent  of  Longfellow,  as  a  poetical  writer, 
is  intelligence  ...  a  certain  openness  to  information  of  all 
sorts,  and  a  readiness  at  turning  it  to  practical  accounts.  Ros- 
SETTI,  Lives,  p.  388. 

Intellect,  which  in  the  highest  poets  co-operates  with  the  affections 
and  the  imagination,  in  Victor  Hugo  is  deficient.  Dow  DEN,  St. 
in  Lit.,  pp.  429,  430. 

The  absence  of  large  intellectual  power,  is  also  the  absence  of  a 
seat  of  moral  sensibility.  ID.,  p.  433. 


170     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Intelligible  (III.):  Gold,  to  present. 
Intense  (XII.):  Haz.  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  Strength  both  of  thought  and  of  emo- 
tion. Sometimes  one  is  emphasized,  sometimes  the 
other;  but  the  term  seems  to  represent  their  complete 
union  or  synthesis,  and  to  be  measured  by  the  force  of 
the  impression  which  the  literary  work,  as  a  whole,  pro- 
duces on  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

Intensity  is  the  great  and  prominent  distinction  of  Lord  Byron's 
writings.  He  seldom  gets  beyond  force  of  style.  HAZLITT, 
Sp.  of  Age,  p.  124. 

Strength  and  intensity  of  thought.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  56. 
Poetry  must  be  intense  in   meaning.      BAGEHOT,  Lit.    St.,    II., 

p.  351. 
Wordsworth  ...  a   meditative  and   intensive   poet.      HOSSETTI, 

Lives,  p.  216. 

Wordsworth  is  never  intense  for  the  very  reason  that  lie  is  spirit- 
ually massive.     DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  G6. 
Interesting  (XXII.)  b:  Hume  to  present. 

Most  pathetic  and  most  interesting,  and  by  consequence  the  most 

agreeable.     HUME,  I.,  p.  264. 

Interminable  :  Jef.     Gosse,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  18. 
Intimate:  Swiu.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  60. 
Intonation  (X.):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  7. 
Intrepidity  (XII.):  Force  and  intrepidity.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  209. 
Intricate  (II.):  J.  War.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Intrigue  :  Swin.,  Gosse.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  36. 
Invective  (XXL):  Jef.  to  present. 

Hitter  cry  of  invective  and  satire.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  20. 
INVENTION  (XXIII  ). 

Previous  to  the  present  century  the  term  "  inven- 
tion "  is  to  be  defined  far  more  as  a  product  than  as  a 
AS  imitation  Process-  Invention  was  the  result  of  imagi- 

"  nature."  liatjve  activity,  when  the  object  of  representa- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     171 

tion  was  either  historical  truth,  or  something  at  vari- 
ance with  it.  Invention,  considered  as  the  portrayal 
of  tip.  likeness  of  truth,  occurs  chiefly  in  connection 
with:  the  theory  of  oratory  and  the  drama.  Used  in 
this  manner,  "  invention,"  when  regarded  as  a  product, 
is  a  means  to  the  "  imitation  of  nature ; "  when  re- 
garded as  a  process,  it  is  synonymous  with  imitation. 
This  is  the  chief  use  of  the  term  until  near  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century. 

Invention  is  a  searching  out  of  tilings  txue,  or  things  likely,  the 
which  may  reasonably  set  forth  a  matter,  and  make  it  appear 
probable.  T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  6. 

Invention,  —  finds  matter  ; 

Disposition,  —  places  arguments ; 

Elocution,  — getteth  words  to  set  forth  invention.     ID.,  p.  170. 

The  invention  of  speech  or  argument  is  not  properly  an  invention ; 
for  to  invent  is  to  discover  that  we  know  not,  and  not  to  recover 
or  resummon  that  which  we  already  kno«v ;  and  the  use  of  this 
invention  is  no  other  but,  out  of  the  knowledge,  whereof  our 
mind  is  already  possessed,  to  draw  forth  or  call  before  us  that 
which  may  be  pertinent  to  the  purpose  which  we  take  into  our 
consideration.  So  as  to  speak  truly  it  is  no  invention,  but  a  re- 
membrance, or  suggestion,  with  an  application.  1605.  BACON, 
Ad.  of  L.,  p.  155. 

So  then  the  first  happiness  of  the  poet's  imagination  is  properly  in- 
vention, or  finding  of  the  thought.  1666.  DRYDEN,  IX.,  p.  96. 

In  inventing  characters,  it  is  better  to  attach  some  probable  fact 
to  a  person  who  really  existed.  RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  17. 

By  invention  is  really  meant  no  more  (and  so  the  word  signifies) 
than  discovery,  or  finding  out;  or,  to  explain  it  at  large,  a  quick 
and  sagacious  penetration  into  the  true  essence  of  all  the  objects 
of  our  contemplation.  This,  I  think,  can  rarely  exist  without 
the  concomitancy  of  judgment;  for  how  we  can  bfc  said  to  have 
discovered  the  true  essence  of  two  things,  without  discerning 
their  difference,  seems  to  me  hard  to  conceive.  1749.  FIELD- 
ING, T.  Jones,  II.,  p.  6. 


172     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

What  we  call  invention  in  poetry,  is  in  respect  of  the  matter  of  it 
simply,  observation.  1751.  HUKD,  II.,  p.  158. 

Powers  requisite  for  the  production  of  poetry :  1.  Observation 
and  description;  2.  Sensibility;  3.  Reflection;  4.  Imagination 
and  fancy;  5.  Invention,  by  which  characters  are  composed 
out  of  materials  supplied  by  observation;  6.  Judgment.  1802. 
WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  130. 

Occasionally,  however,  "  invention "  signified  some 
combination  of  circumstances  which  was  not  in  con- 
As  fabrication  f°rm%  with  truth.  This  use  of  the  term 
x>f  possibilities.  ^ecame  somewnat  prominent  in  the__  eigh- 
teenth century.  Invention,  when  thus  employed,  is  to 
be  identified  with  the  fancy  or  imagination  as  exercised 
in  conceits  and  romances. 

An  excellent,  sharp,  and  quick  invention,  holpen  by  a  clear  and 
bright  phantasy  and  imagination  ...  is  not  ...  to  counter- 
feit the  natural  by  the  like  effects  .  .  .  but  even  as  nature  her- 
self working  by  her  own  peculiar  virtue  and  proper  instinct,  and 
not  by  example  or  meditation  or  exercise  as  all  other  artificers 
do.  1585.  PUTTENHAM,  pp.  312,  313. 

His  own  invention  and  manufacture.     1699.     BENTLEY,  II.,  p.  81. 

There  is  a  kind  of  writing  wherein  the  poet  quite  loses  sight  of 
nature,  and  entertains  his  reader's  imagination  with  the  charac- 
ters and  actions  of  such  persons  as  have  many  of  them  no  exist- 
ence but  what  he  bestows  on  them.  Such  are  fairies,  witches, 
magicians,  demons,  and  departed  spirits.  This  way  of  writing 
is  more  difficult  than  any  other,  since  the  poet  has  no  pattern  to 
follow  in  it,  and  must  work  altogether  out  of  his  own  invention. 
1712.  ADDISON,  III.,  p.  422. 

In  dreams  invention  works  with  that  ease  and  activity  that  we  are 
not  sensible  when  the  faculty  is  employed.  ID.,  p.  2. 

For  by  invention,  I  believe,  is  generally  understood  a  creative  fac- 
ulty, which  would  indeed  prove  most  romance  writers  to  have 
the  highest  pretensions  to  it.  1749.  FIELDING,  T.  Jones,  II., 
p.  6. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     173 

.The  essence  of  poetry  is  invention  ;  such  invention  as  by  producing 
something  unexpected  surprises  and  delights.  1781.  S.  JOHN- 
SON, VII.,  p.  213. 

During  the   present   century  "invention"    has   been 
regarded  a^^a^r^iieas  rather   than  as^a  product,      it 


lias  at  times  been  more  or  less  completely  AS  a  form  of 

the  imagi- 

identified  with  the  imaginative  activity.  Usu-  nation. 
ally,  however,  it  indicates  that  part  of  the  imaginative 
activity  which  has  to  do  primarily  with  the  coherency 
in  mental  images,  and  with  the  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances, and  only  secondarily  with  the  relation  of 
these  images  and  circumstances  to  the  personal  feel- 
ings of  the  author.  "  Invention  "  is  thus,  in  a  sense, 
an  intellectual  intuition,  and  is  perhaps  not  directly 
influenced  by  passion  or  impulse. 

Invention  regularly  comes  before  judgment,  warmth  of  feeling  be- 
fore correct  reasoning.  1825.  JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  258. 

Inventiveness  of  genius.     1826.     HAZLTTT,  PI.  Sp.,  pp.  484,485. 

Briefly  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  invent  circumstances, 
forms,  or  scenes,  at  its  pleasure,  may  be  generally  and  prop- 
erly called,  imagination.  1843.  RUSKIN,  Modern  Painters, 
II.,  p.  3. 

I  should  say  of  a  work  of  art  that  it  was  well  "  fancied  "  or  well 
"invented"  or  well  "imagined"  with  only  some  shades  of 
different  meaning  in  the  application  of  the  terms.  ID.,  p.  2. 

B.  Jonson  works  by  effort  rather  than  by  inspiration,  and  leaves 
the  impression  of  ingenuity  rather  than  inventiveness.  1859. 
WHIPPLE,  El.  Lit,,  p.  115. 

The  highest  reach  of  science  is,  one  may  say,  an  inventive  power 
a  faculty  of  divination,  akin  to  the  highest  power  exercised  in 
poetry.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  51.  , 

Endowed  with  an  imagination  of  remarkable  power  and  beauty, 
Wordsworth  is  deficient  in  the  highest  of  all  poetical  qualities, 
Invention.  COURTHOPE,  Lib.  M.  in  E.  Lit.,  pp.  170,  171. 


174       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Heine,  a  pagan  of  the  lyrical  rather  than  of  the  inventive  cast. 
STEDMAN,  Nature  of  Poetry,  p.  18. 

A  lofty  if  not  inventive  imagination.     ID.,  p.  202. 
Invertebrate  (II.):    Amorphous    and   invertebrate.      GOSSE,    From 

Shak.,  etc.,  p.  22. 
Involution  (II.):  Car.  to  present. 

Bulwer  is  atrociously  involute.     POE,  I.,  p.  347. 
Irony  (XVII.) :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Irony  is  akin  to  cavil.     LA.NDOR,  III.,  p.  149. 

Wit  and  humor  stand  on  one  side,  irony  and  sarcasm  on  the  other. 
ID.,  IV.,  p.  282. 

Hence  a  grand  irony  in  the  tragedy  of  Lear ;  hence  all  in  it  that  is 

great  is  also  small.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  258. 
Irresistible  (XXII.)  bi  Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  17. 
Jactation:  Tedious  jactation.     SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  272. 
Jagged  (II.):  Jagged  and  diffuse  .  .  .  blank  verse.     STEDMAN,  Vic. 

Poets,  p.  107. 

Jarring  (X.):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  73. 
Jaunty  (V.):  Whip,  to  present. 

Languid  jauntiness  of  style.     WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II.,  p.  250. 
Jejune  (XII.):  Goldsmith  to  present. 

Jejune,  far-fetched,  and  frigid.     II  AZ  LI  XT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  211. 
Jingle  (X.):   Byron's  verse  halts  and  jingles.      SWINBDRNE,   Es.  & 

St.,  p.  246. 

Joyous  (XIV.):  Bryant.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  68. 
JUDGMENT  (XX.). 

The  term  has  been  employed  almost  wholly  in  theory. 
Three  periods  may  perhaps  be  distinguished  in  its  his- 
AS  artful  toiy.  Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  "judgment"  represented  all  the  dis- 
crimination and  ingenuity  exercised  in  giving  to  a  com- 
position a  literary  or  artistic  form  of  expression. 

When  the  fancy  was  yet  in  its  first  work,  moving  the  sleeping 
images  of  things  towards  the  light,  there  to  be  distinguished 
and  then  either  chosen  or  rejected  by  the  judgment.  DKYDEN, 
II.,  p.  130. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       175 

Judgment  is  indeed  the  master  workman  in  a  play.  ID.,  XV., 
p.  376. 

During   the   latter  half   of   the    eighteenth   century, 
wit,  representing  the  more  acute  discriminating  pow- 
ers of  the  mind,  was  distinguished  from  the  As  methodic 
judgment.      Judgment  was  not  so  essential  taste< 
a  factor  in  the  production  of   literature.      It  was  an 
elaborate  and   intellectual  expression   of   taste,  of  the 
cultured  instinct  of  order  and  propriety. 

I  mean  by  the  word  taste  no  more  than  that  faculty  or  those  fac- 
ulties of  the  mind  which  are  affected  with,  or  which  form  a 
judgment  of  the  works  of  imagination  and  the  elegant  arts. 
BURKE,  I.,  p.  54. 

Judgment  implies  a  preserving  that  probability  in  conducting  or 
disposing  a  composition  that  reconciles  it  to  credibility  and  the 
appearance  of  truth.  GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  418. 

Judgment  in  the  operations  of  intellect  can  hinder  faults  but  not 
produce  excellence.  S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  20. 

Wit  and  judgment  are  seldom  united.     KAMES,  El.  of  Grit.,  p.  33. 

In  the  present  century  the  term  has  been  little  used. 
It  seems  to  indicate  a  careful,  deliberative  attitude  of 
mind,  which  gives  to  the  .more  purely  liter-  As  elaborate 
ary  activities  a  certain  steadiness,  and  per-  method* 
haps  to  the  composition  a  certain  breadth  and  finish. 

Taste  is  the  very  maker  of  judgment.     HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy,  p.  56. 

There  must  be  wisdom  as  well  as  wit,  sense  no  less  than  imagina- 
tion, judgment  in  equal  measure  with  fancy,  and  the  fiery  rocket 
must  be  bound  fast  to  the  poor  wooden  stick  that  gives  it  guid- 
ance if  it  would  mount  and  draw  all  eyes.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  81. 
Judicious  (XX.) :  Dry.  to  present. 

Little  in  use  since  the  early  portion  of  the  present 
century,  and  also  not  very  much  in  favor.  (See 
"  Judgment.") 


176       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  judicious  obscurity  ...  of  Milton's  description  of  Death  in 

the  second  book.     BURKE,  I.,  p.  90. 
A  judicial  attitude  of  mind  is  highly  unreceptive,  for  it  necessarily 

implies  a  restraint  of  sympathy.     MOULTON,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  7. 
Jumping  (X.);  cf.  (XVIII.):  Jumping  verses.     BROOKE,  Tennyson, 

p.  54. 
Just  (XX.):  Gascoigne  to  present. 

A  careful,  restrained,  and  more  or  less  refined  method 
of  expression. 


The  just  proportion  of  our  spirits.     DANIEL^!.,  p.  231\ 
Nothing  is  truly  sublime  that  is  not  just  and  proper. 

VI.,  p.  401.  < 

True  wit  may  be  defined  as  a  justness  of  thought  and  a  facility  of 

expression.     POPE,  VI.,  p.  16. 
The  close  and  reciprocal  connection  of  just  taste  and  pure  morality. 

COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  52, 
Keen  (XX.)  b:  Goldsmith  to  present. 

Keen  truthfulness.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  71. 
Keeping  (IV.)  :  Camp,  to  present. 

Perfect  keeping  ...  of  Rape  of  Lock.     LOWELL,  Prose,  III., 

p.  34. 
Labored  (VII.):  Ascham  to  present. 

In  Sallust's  writing  is  more  art  than  nature,  and  more  labour  than 

art.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  264. 
No  matter  how  slow  the  style,  so  it  be  laboured  and  accurate.     B. 

JONSON,  Timber,  p.  54. 

Laborious:  Camp,  to  present.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  131. 
Lachrymose  (XV.):  Lachrymose  and  sentimental  tragedy.     GOSSE, 

Life  of  Congreve,  p.  93. 
Laconic  (XIX.)  b:  Car.,  Poe. 

Laconic  pith  ...  of  Burns.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  17. 
Lame  (XVIII.)  :  Gib.  to  present. 

Lnme,  stiff,  and  prosaic.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  202. 
Languid  (XII.):  S.  John,  to  present. 

"Ah,  mark!"  is  rather  languid.     I  would  read,  "heard  ye?" 
GRAY,  III.,  p.  73. 


.1    HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL   TERMS.       177 

Largeness  (XI.) :  Swin.,  Dow. 

So  large  and  clear  and  calm  an  utterance.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  127. 

The  first  word  of  criticism  which  the  poetical  works  of  Edgar 
Quinet  suggest,  —  a  really  important  word,  although  it  does  not 
imply  profound  critical  insight,  —  is  that  they  are  very  large. 
DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  285. 

The  largeness  and  veracity  of  George  Eliot's  art  proceed  from  the 
same  qualities  which  make  truth-seeking  a  passion  of  her  nature. 
ID.,  p.  295. 

Lascivious  (XV.):  Whet.,  Put.,  Webbe. 
Latinism  (I.):  Lan.,  Saints. 

This  pedantic  quibbling  Latinism.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  454. 
Laxity  (XII.)  ;  cf.  (XIX.):  T.  War.  to  present. 

Where  there  is  laxity  there  is  inexactness.     LANDOR,  V.,  p.  109. 
Leaping  (XVIII.):  Wil.,  Gosse. 

Luminous  and  leaping  Greek  words.     WILSON,  VIII.,  p.  420. 
Learned  (XX.)  b:  Haz.,  Gosse. 

Learned  and  precise.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  180. 
Lengthy :  Low.  to  present. 

Prosing  lengthiness.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  217. 
Level:  Haz.  to  present. 

Pedestrian,  unimaginative,  level,  neutral.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit., 

p.  73. 
Levity  (XIV.):     Daniel  to  present. 

Volubility  and  levity.     S.  JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  447. 
Liberality  (XIV.):  T.' War.,  Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  169. 
Liberty  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  98. 
License  (IV.):  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  52. 
Licentious  (I.):  Harvey  to  present. 

I.  Previous  to  the  present  century,  any  innovation 
or  wide  departure  from  the  good  usage  of  separate  words 
and  in  the  mechanical  construction  of  composition.  . 

A  mixed  and  licentious  iambic.     HARVEY,  I.,  p.  21. 
None  are  more  licentious  than  Pope  and  Dryden,  who  perpetually 
borrow  foreign  idioms,  derivatives,  etc.     GRAY,  II.,  p.  108. 
12 


178       A  HISTORY  VF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

II.  Extreme  moral  impurity,  later ;  not  really  a  crit- 
ical term. 

Life  (XII.):  Gold,  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  93. 
Life-like  (VIII.):  Pater.     Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  13. 
Light  (XVIII..):  Ascham  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  Usually  regarded  as  a  characteristic 
of  French  literature;  airiness  of  conception  and  move- 
ment; acuteness  and  suppleness  rather  than  depth. 

A  French  lightness  and  ease  of  expression.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  & 

Rev.,  I.,  p.  16. 
Light  and  thin.     ID.,  p.  57- 
Singular  grace,  lightness,  and  elegance.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr. 

Lit.,  p.  102. 

Lilting  (X.):  Lilting  measure.     LAMB,  II.,  p.  107. 
Limited:  Jef.,  Low.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  223. 
Limpid  (X.) :  Low.  to  present. 

The  limpidity  ...  of  the   style  of  Malebranche.     SAINTSBURY, 

Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  378. 
Limping  (XVIIL):   Limping  paraphrase.      GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  85. 
Linked  (XIII.):  Jef.,  Sted. 

Linked  sweetness.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  434. 
Literal :  Jef.  to  present. 

Exactness  primarily  of  translation ;  occasionally  to  the  fact.     Lit- 
eral .  .  .  power  of -detail.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  74. 
Literary  (VII.) :  Low.  to  present. 

Artificial  and  literary.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cel.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  228. 
Lithe  (XVIIL):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  98. 
Little  (XL):  Puerile  and  little.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  202. 
Lively  (XII.) :  Ascham  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

The  iambic  and  trochaic  are  lively  meters.     ARISTOTLE,  Poetics, 

p.  79. 

Minot  is  an  easy  and  lively  versifier.     CAMPBELL,  II.,  p.  27. 
Fresh  and  lively.     HALLAM,  Lit.  Hist.,  I.,  pp.  130,  131. 
Living  (VII.):  Jef.  to  present. 

Living  and  organic  style.     DOAVDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  151. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       179 
Lofty  (XI.) :  Lodge  to  present. 

Represents  a  conception  intermediate  between  eleva- 
tion and  sublimity :  requires  both  depth  of  feeling  and 
intellectual  acumen. 

When  their  matter  is  most  heavenly,  their  style  is  most  lofty. 

LODGE,  p.  11. 
Peerless  sublimity  and  loftiness  of  style.     NEWTON,  Pref.  to  Tr.  of 

Seneca.     Spenser  Society,  XLIIL,  p.  2. 
Arnold's  .  .  .  intellectual    processes  .  .  .  are    spontaneous,    and 

sometimes  rise   to  a  loftiness  which   no   mere  lyrist,  without 

unusual  mental  faculty,  can  ever  attain.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets, 

p.  91. 
Logical  (XX.)  6:  Hazlitt. 

Used  almost  wholly  in  theory.     Represents  thejsjl^. 
logistic  and  intellectual  relations  of  the  different  state- 
ments of  a  composition  to  each  other. 

It  may  be  questioned  whether  his  wit  was  anything  more  than  an 
excess  of  his  logical  faculty :  it  did  not  consist  in  the  play  of 
fancy,  but  in  close   and   cutting   combinations   of  the   under- 
standing.    HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  80. 
The  logical  faculty  has  infinitely  more  to  do  with  poetry  than  the 

young  .  .  .  ever  dreams  of.     WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  292. 
Men  profess  to  reach  their  philosophical  conclusions  by  some  pro-  ~" 
cess  of  logic ;  but  the  imagination  is  the  faculty  which  furnishes 
the  raw  material  upon  which  the  logic  is  employed,  and  uncon- 
sciously to  its  owners,  determines,  for  the  most  part,  the  shape    . 
into  which  their  theories  will  be  moulded.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a 
Lib.,  pp.  18,  19. 

Long-drawn  :  Minto  to  present. 

Long-winded  (XIX.)  b :    Long-winded  verbosities.      CARLYLE,  II., 
p.  82. 

Loose  :  Ascham  to  present. 

Loose-jointed  (XIII.) :  Loose-jointed  octosyllabic  lines.     WHIFFLE, 
Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  258. 

Loquacity  (XIX.)  I :  Car.,  Saints. 


180     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Lovely  (XXII.)  b :  Hunt  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  98. 
Low  (XIV.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

I.  Mean,  grovelling. 

Low  grossness.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  206. 

The  low  style  of  Horace  is  according  to  bis  subject,  that  is,  gen- 
erally grovelling.  DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  88. 

II.  Simple  and  naive. 

Chaucer's  descriptive  style  is  remarkable  for  its  lowness  of  tone,  — 
for  that  combination  of  energy  with  simplicity  which  is  among 
the  rarest  gifts  in  literature.  LOWELL,  III.,  p.  353. 

Lucid  (III.) :  J.  War.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  64. 

Ludicrous  (XVII.) :  Shaftes.  to  present. 

The  native  "flash"  of  wit  viewed  as  a  product;  the 
more  intellectual  phase  of  the  sense  of  humor,  some- 
what elaborated  toward  the  droll. 

The  ridiculous  .  .  .  contrary  to  custom,  sense,  and  reason.     HAZ- 

LITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  5. 

Delight  in  blending  the  pathetic  with  the  ludicrous  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  true  humorist.     STEPHEN,   Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  II., 
p.  349. 
Lumbering  (XVIII.)  :    Scott  to  present. 

Lumbering  and  disjointed.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  214. 
Luminous  (III.):  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  24. 
Lurid  :  Low.  to  present. 

A  series  of  lurid  pictures.     LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  89. 
Luscious  (XXII.)  b :  Hal.,  Saints. 

Sweet  even  to  lusciousness.     HALLAM,  IV.,  p.  282. 
Lusty  (XII.)  :  Ascham,  Whip. 

Marlowe  ...  in  his  lustiness.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II.,  p.  18. 
Luxuriant  (XIX.)  b  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Ariosto's  style  is  luxurious,  without  majesty  or  decency.  DRY- 
DEN,  XIII.,  p.  15. 

In  the  department  of  luxurious  ornament,  the  example  of  Mr. 
Ruskin  may  be  said  to  have  rendered  all  other  examples  com- 
paratively superfluous.  SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxxii. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     181 

LYRICAL  (XXL). 

Pour  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the  history  of 
the   term   "  lyrical."      Until    about   the  middle   of  the 

seventeenth  century,  the  word  "lyrical"  was  AS  passion 
,'"  ,   j  i        ,         -,      •  i  r   adapted  to 

employed    merely    to    designate    a  class   of  song, 

poetry  which  was  thought  to  be  no  better  and  no  worse 
than  poetry  in  general.  The  accusatjons  made  against 
piiatry  were  levelled  at  the  drama  rather  than  at  the 
tyric^though  in  the  amative  songs  of  the  dramas  them- 
selves, the  lyric  came  in  for  its  share  of  blame. 

Which  we  may  call  lyrical,  because  they  are  apt  to  be  sung  to  an 

instrument.     CAMPION,  p.  252. 
Lyrical  kind  of  songs  and  sonnets  .  .  .  singing  the  praises  of  the 

immortal  beauty,  the  immortal  goodness  of  God.    SIDNEY,  p.  52. 
If  thou  mislike  the  lyrical,  because  the  chiefest  subject  thereof  is 

love,  I  reply  that  love  being  virtuously  intended  and  worthily 

placed,  is  the  whetstone  of  wit  and  spur  to  all  generous  actions. 

1602.     DAVISON,  in  Lit.  Centuria,  I.,  p.  107. 

During  the  second  period,  which  extended  until  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  lyrical  poetry  was 
jiot  in  good  repute  with  the  critics.  Their 

As  passion. 

attention    was   centred   chiefly  jipan   hej^oic^ 
dramatic,  arid  didactic  poetry.     The  lyric  received  very 
little  notice.     It  was  considered  as  too  crude,  primitive, 
impulsive,  and  passionate. 

Tasso  confesses  himself  toplyrical  .  .  .  beneath  the  dignity  of 
heroic  verse.    DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  15. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
lyric  was  thought  to  be  of  equal  importance  with  the 
other   species    or    divisions    of   poetry.       Its  As  musical 
early   crude   passion    may   be   said   to    have  emoti011- 


182     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

become  refined  into  emotion.  The  term  "lyrical" 
began  tojaxercise  a  schematizing  influence  over  other 
critical  terms  which  were  in  active  use,  but  its  own 
critical  significance  was  as  yet  quite  incidental  to  its 
use  as  a  classifying  term. 

Alexander's  Feast  concludes  with  an  epigram  of  four  lines ;  a  spe- 
cies of  wit  as  flagrantly  unsuitable  to  the  dignity,  and  as  foreign 
to  the  nature  of  the  lyric,  as  it  is  of  the  epic  muse.  J.  WARTON, 
I.,  p.  60. 

Lyric  poetry  especially  should  not  be  minutely  historical.  ID.,  I., 
p.  374. 

Extreme  conciseness  of  expression,  yet  pure,  perspicuous,  and  mu- 
sical, is  one  of  the  grand  beauties  of  lyric  poetry.  GRAY,  II., 
p.  352. 

1  The  true  lyric  style  with  all  its  flights  of  fancy,  ornaments,  and 
heightening  of  expression,  and  harmony  of  sound,  is  in  its  na- 
ture superior  to  any  other'style;  which  is  just  the  cause  why  it 
could  not  be  borne  in  a  work  of  great  length.  GRAY,  II., 
p.  304. 

Lyric  sweetness.     T.  WARTON,  p.  646. 

During  the  fourth  period,  which  includes  the  present 
century,  the  lyric  has  been  in  greater  favor  than  the 
AS  intense  other  species  of  poetry.  A  great  develop- 
emotion.  nient  of  poetry  has  taken  place  in  this  cen- 
tury, which_is_ji^tlier_e£ic  i^J^inatic^  in  its  nature. 
Hence  there  has  been  a  tendency  to  broaden  the  defi- 
nition of  the  lyric  both  in  theory  and  in  actual  criticism. 
In  theory,  the  lyric  has  often  been  made  to  include  all 
poetry  which  deals  with  the  thoughts  and  emotions  of 
the  mind.  But  in  actual  criticism  it  includes  only  such 
a  part  of  this  subjective  poetry  as  is  written  with  the_ 
intensity  and  unity  of  feeling  that  characterizes  the 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.     183 

older  lyric,  —  the  lyric  that  had  chiefly  for  its  themes 
th^gassions  of  love  and  of  heroism.  There  is  thus  an 
extension  of  themes  in  the  m^d^n_lvric?  but  little  or 


no  change  in  the  method  of  dealing  with  these  themes. 
The  lyric  is  an  intensification  ^of  poetical  feeling.  The 
feeling  must  be  simple  and  more  or  less  impulsive.  It 
must  embody  itself  in  vivid*  images  which  are  directly 
related  to  the  feeling,  but  not  to  each  other.  Even 
dramatic  poetry  when  in  its  effect  it  produces  an  in- 
tgnse  aesthetic  unity,  is  sometimes  classed  as  lyrical. 

Some  of  these  pieces  are  essentially  lyrical  ;  and  therefore  cannot 

have  their  due  force  without  a  supposed  musical  accompaniment  ; 

but  in  much  the  greatest  part,  as  a  substitute  for  the  classic  lyre 

or  romantic  harp,  I  require  nothing  more  than  an  animated  or 

impassioned  recitation,  adapted  to  the  subject.     WORDSWORTH, 

p.  880,  Morley's  edition  of  1893. 
The  whole  of  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  is  one  continued 

specimen  of  the  dramatized  lyrical.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  63. 
The  highest  lyric  work  is  either  passionate  or  imaginative.     SWIN- 

BURNE, Es.  &  St.,  p.  275. 
The  true  lyric,  —  short,  at  unity  with  one  thought,  with  one  cry 

of  joyful  or  sorrowful  passion.      BROOKE,  Early   Eng.   Lit., 

p.  7. 
Bright,  spontaneous,  almost  lyrical  feeling.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  333. 

A  lyrical  purity  and  passion.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  167. 
Magazinish  (IX.)  :    The   mediocrity  ...  is  most   miserably  maga- 

zinish.     COLERIDGE,  Letters,  I.,  p.  117. 
Magical  (XXII.)  b:  Jef.  to  present. 

Magical  potency.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  388. 
Magnetic  (XXII.)  b  :  Low.,  Ros. 

Wordsworth  was  not  a  magnetic  poet.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  216. 
Magnificent  (XI.)  :  Put.  to  present.     Macaulay,  I.,  p.  126. 
Magniloquence  (XIX.)  b  :  Magniloquence  and  amplitude  of  phrase. 
GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  99. 


184     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 
MAJESTIC  (XL). 

Previous  to  the  eighteenth  century,  the  term  "ma- 
jestic "  signified  a  commanding  sweep  of  thought  and 
AS  authority  expression,  a  thought  simple,  elevated,  au- 

and  magni-       ,,.,*.  £  £  -  n 

tude.  thontative,  a  (prm  01  expression  —  usually  a 

metrical  movement  —  imposing,  stately,  regulated. 

The  majesty  of  God's  holy  word.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  227. 

Majesty  of  the  holy  style.     HOJBBES,  IV.,  p.  445. 

Words  borrowed  of  antiquity  do  lend  a  kind  of  majesty  to  style, 
for  they  have  the  authority  of  years.  1641.  B.  JONSON,  Tim- 
ber, p.  61. 

Ariosto's  style  is  luxurious,  without  majesty  or  decency.  1693. 
DJIYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  15. 

The  language  ...  of  Waller's  poein  on  the  Navy  ...  is  clean 
and  majestic.  RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  79. 

The  Alexandrine  adds  a  certain  majesty  to  the  verse,  when  it  is 
used  with  judgment,  and  stops  the  sense  from  overflowing  into 
another  line.  1696.  DRYDEN,  XIV.,  p.  208. 

Majesty  —  offended  by  rhyme.     ID.,  XV.,  p.  360. 

Denham's  Cooper's  Hill,  —  an  exact  standard  for  majesty  of  style. 
ID.,  II.,  p.  137. 

Cowley  considered  the  verse  of  twelve  syllables  as  elevated  and 
majestic,  and  has  therefore  deviated  into  that  measure  when  he 
supposes  the  voice  heard  of  the  Supreme  Being.  1781.  S. 
JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  55. 

During  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  the 
"  majestic  "  has  often  been  used  to  characterize  a  lower 
AS  supreme  form  of  sublimity.  It  has  referred  more  than 

strength  and 

magnitude.  formerly  to  the  imagery  and  thought  of  the 
composition.  It  has  occasionally  denoted  the  literary 
representation  of  great  personal  strength.  It  has 
always  represented  strength  of  some  kind  or  magni- 
tude which  could  never  attain  to  the  sublime  because 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     185 

it  was  more   simple   and   direct,   less   mysterious   and 
suggestive. 

The  sentiments  of  Chevy-Chase  are  extremely  natural  and  poetical, 
and  full  of  the  majestic  simplicity  which  we  admire  in  the  great- 
est of  the  ancient  poets.  1710.  ADDISON,  II.,  p.  384. 

There  is  in  his  negligence  a  rude  inartificial  majesty.  1751.  S. 
JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  83. 

Majesty  which  approaches  sublimity.     1760.     GRAY,  I.,  p.  401. 

Majesty,  characteristic  of  Greek  finiteness.  COLERIDGE,  IV., 
p.  29. 

Majesty,  not  complete  loftiness  of  thought.     DE  QUINCEY,  X., 

p.  423. 
Malleability :  He  strikes  after  the  iron  is  cold,  and  there  is  want  of 

malleability  in  the  style.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  179. 
Manly  (XIV.) :  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

The  tone  of  Shakespeare's  writings  is  manly  and  bracing.  HAZ- 
LITT, Age  of  EL,  p.  109. 

It  is  not  fastidiousness,  but  manliness  and  good  feeling,  which  are 

outraged  by  such  vulgarities.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  340. 
Mannered    (II.):    Mannered    sentimentality  ...  of    the    Arcadia. 

DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  282. 
Mannerism  (IV.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

Much  in  use.  Elaborate  and  formal  methods  of 
writing,  not  derived  from  a  genuine  interest  and  feel- 
ing for  the  subject  treated  of,  but  from  the  imitation 
and  manipulation  of  the  more  mechanical  elements  of 
style. 

Mannerism  and  affectation.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  163. 

In  poetry  I  have  sought  to  avoid  system  and  mannerism.  Su EL- 
LET,  VIII.,  p.  186. 

Until  imitation  has  run  into  a  spiritless  mannerism.  WHIPPLE, 
Es.  &  Rev.,  I.,  p.  224. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  have  used  the  word  "  mannerism  "  instead  of 
"  style/'  for  Chapman  had  not  that  perfect  control  of  his  matter 
which  "style"  implies.  On  the  contrary,  his  matter  seems 


186     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

sometimes  to  do  what  it  will  with  him,  which  is  the  character- 
istic of  mannerism.     LOWELL,  0.  E.  D.,  p.  96. 
MANNERS   (VI.). 

The  Greek  rjdos  was  expressed  in  early  English  crit- 
icism by  the  two  words  "planners"  and  "character." 
AS  cultivated  (See  "  Character.")  Until  the  latter  part  of 
inclination,  the  eighteenth  century,  the  word  "  manners  " 
frequently  denoted  the  instincts  and  inclinations  of 
tho._mii.id  which  tend  toward  fixed  habits  of  conduct; 
a  certain  refinement  of  the  native  bent  of  character 
toward  custom  and  uniformity ;  the  sense  of  propriety 
turned  toward  action  and  thus  exciting  perhaps  even 
the  passions.  As  the  word  "  manners  "  gradually  came 
to  refer  more  to  the  fixed  habit  and  less  to  the  native 
inclination,  it  tended  to  represent  an  activity  which 
was  more  pjiy^jgaLthan  mental  in  its  nature;  and  by 
the  latter  portion  of  the  eignteenth  century,  though  it 
was  still  occasionally  applied  to  the  "internal  consti- 
tution of  man,"  it  had  already  become  separated  from 
all  the  essential  and  spontaneous  powers  of  the  mind. 
It  had  been  opposed  to  "  action,"  to  the  "  tragic,"  and 
"  passion,"  to  "  character,"  to  "  sentiment,"  and  to  the 
"  poetical." 

The  manners  in  a  poem  are  understood  to  be  those  inclinations, 
whether  natural  or  acquired,  which  move  and  carry  ns  to  ac- 
tions, good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  in  a  play ;  or  which  incline  the 
persous  to  such  actions.  1679.  DRYUEN,  VI.,  pp.  266,  267. 

Under  this  general  head  of  manners,  the  passions  are  naturally 
included,  as  belonging  to  the  characters.  ID.,  p.  274. 

Manners,  under  which  name  I  comprehend  the  passions,  and  in  a 
larger  sense  the  descriptions  of  persons  and  their  very  habits. 
1699.  ID.,  XL,  p.  220. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     187 

And  my  idea  of  comedy  requires  only  that  the  pathos  be  kept  in 
subordination  to  the  manners.  1751.  HUHD,  II.,  p.  95. 

Compositions  that  lay  open  the  internal  constitution  jpf^man.  and 
.  .  .  imitate  characters,  manners,  and  sentiments.  1756.  J. 
WARTON,  Pope,  I.,  p.  49. 

Pope  .  .  .  stuck  to  describing  modern  manners ;  but  those  man- 
ners, because  they  are  familiar,  artificial,  uniform,  and  polished, 
are  in  their  very  nature  unfit  for  any  lofty  effort  of  the  muse. 
ID.,  II.,  p.  402. 

The  manners  of  men  .  .  .  shew  themselves  most  usually  in  action. 
1751.  KURD,  II.,  p.  38. 

Manners,  those  sentiments  which  mark  and  distinguish  characters. 
ID.,  II.,  p.  133. 

Actions  are  the  province  of  tragedy,  manners  that  of  comedy. 
1762.  GIBBON,  IV.,  p.  137. 

The  sentiments,  as  expressive  of  manners,  or  appropriated  to  char- 
acters, are  for  the  greater  part  unexceptionably  just.  1781. 
S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  130. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  word 
"  manners  "  was  thought  to  represent  something  wholly 
external  to  the  mind.      The  fixed  habit  of  AS  formal 
conduct  was  regarded  as  a  formal  method  of  behavior, 
behavior,  which  in  a  sense  stood  over  in  opposition  to 
man  himself,  —  at  least   to   man    as  furnishing   either 
the  subject  or  the  inspiration  for  literary  production. 

The  excellence  of  Pope  .  .  .  consisted  in  just  and  acute  observa- 
tions on  men  and  manners  in  an  artificial  state  of  society.  1817. 
COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  155. 

We  find  ...  in  novels  ...  a  close  imitation  of  men  and  man- 
ners ;  we  see  the  very  web  and  texture  of  society  as  it  really 
exists,  and  as  we  meet  with  it  when  we  come  into  the  world. 
1819.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  142. 
Many-colored  (V.)  :  Saints.     Dowden,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  382.  B 
Marvelous  (XXII.)  a :  Stephen.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  *66. 


188     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Masculine  (XII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Masculine  though  irregular  versification.     SCOTT,  Life  of  Dry  den, 
p.  400. 

Masculine,   plain,   concentrated,  and  energetic.      LANDOR,   IV., 

p.  525. 
Massive  (XI.)  :  Macaulay  to  present. 

Gothic  massiveness  of  thought.     POE,  I.,  p.  550. 
Masterly  (XXII.)  a  :  Dry.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  25. 
Mawkish  (XV.) :  Jef.,  Saints. 

Solemn  mawkislmess  of  Cato.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  88. 
Meager  (XII.) :  Haz.  to  present. 

Meager  and  dry.     HA.ZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  320. 
Mean  (V.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

A  humble,   familiar,  and   extremely  simple   method 
of  writing. 

The  metre  and  verse  of  Plautus  and  Terence  be  very  mean,  and 

not  to  be  followed.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  248. 

Cowley's  expressions  have  sometimes  a  degree  of  meanness  that 
surprises  expectation ;  e.  g. :  — 

Nay,  gentle  guests,  he  cries,  since  now  you  're  in, 
The  story  of  your  gallant  friend  begin. 

S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  45. 
Measured  (X.) :  Jef.  to  present. 
Mechanical  (VII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 
Mediocrity :  Cole  to  present. 

Easy  and  sensible   mediocrity.      GOSSE,   Seventeenth  Cent.    St., 

p.  88. 

Meditation  (XX.)  b :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  165. 
Meetely  (IV.) :   Meetely   currant   style  ...  of  Lydgate.     WEBBE, 

p.  32. 
Melancholy  (XIV.) :  Wil.  to  present. 

Such  melancholy  strain.     WILSON,  VI.,  p.  138. 
Mellifluous  (X.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  112. 
Mellow:  J.  War.  to  present. 

All'  are  mellowed,  refined,  made  exquisite.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc., 
p.  333. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     189 

Melodrama  :  Haz  to  present. 

Tliis  is  not  dramatic  but  melo-dramatic.  There  is  a  palpable  disap- 
pointment and  falling  off  where  the  interest  had  been  worked  up 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  expectation.  HAZLITT,  EL  Lit.,  p.  45. 

He  indulges  more  frequently  than  could  be  wished  in  downright 
melodrama,  or  what  is  generally  called  sensational  writing. 
STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  I.,  p.  322. 

Beauty  has  not  come  to  lift  the  tale  out  of  the  melodrama.     DOW- 
DEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  380. 
Melody  (X.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Much  in  use  in  the  present  century. 

I.  Previous   to   the   present   century,  the   melodious 
was  usually  a  smooth  and  regular  combination  of  ele- 
mentary sounds  and  syllables. 

That  verse  may  be  melodious  and  pleasing,  it  is  necessary  not  only 
that  the  words  be  so  ranged  as  that  the  accent  may  fall  on  its 
proper  place,  but  that  the  syllables  themselves  be  so  chosen  as 
to  flow  smoothly  into  one  another.  This  is  to  be  effected  by  a 
proportionate  mixture  of  vowels  and  consonants,  and  by  tem- 
pering the  mute  consonants  with  liquids  and  semivowels.  S. 
JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  413. 

II.  During  the   present   century,  melody  has   repre- 
sented harmony  in  elementary  sounds,  especially  vow- 
els, resulting  both  from  regularity  of  arrangement  and 
from  variation. 

Halleck's  poetry  is  not  the  melody  of  monotonous  and  strictly 

regular  measurement.     BRYANT,  Prose,  I.,  p.  383. 
Melting  (X.) :  Campion,  Swin. 

Silent  and  melting  consonants.     CAMPION,  p.  259. 
Memorable  (XVI.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

As  a  work  of  genius,  Gorboduc  may  be  set  down  as  nothing,  for 
it  contains  hardly  a  memorable  line  or  passage.  HAZLITT,  El. 
Lit.,  p.  31. 

Poetry  should  be  memorable  and  emphatic,  intense  and  soon  over. 
BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  II.,  p.  352. 


190     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Mendacious  (VIII.)  :  Swinburne,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  143. 
Meretricious  (V.)  :  Haz.,  Poe. 

A  meretricious  gloss.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  121. 
Meritorious  (XXII.)  a  :  Jef.,  Wil. 

We  feel  it  to  be  amusing,  and  therefore  are  inclined  to  believe  that 

it  is  meritorious.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  366. 
Metallic  :  Gosse,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  137- 
Metaphorical  (VIII.):  Hal. 

Metaphor  must  be  the  language  when  we  travel  in  a  country  be- 
yond our  senses.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  44. 
Bacon  is  sometimes  too  metaphorical  and  witty.     HALLAM,  III., 

p.  65. 
Metaphysical :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Petrarch's  sentiments  are  metaphysical  and  far-fetched.     J.  WAR- 
TON,  I.,  p.  65. 
Metrical  (X.)  :  Ros.,  Saints. 

The  rhythmical  considered  as  a  product,  as  a  sequence 
of  accented  and  unaccented  sounds  capable  of  being 
reduced  to  exact  rule  and  method. 

The  metrical  pomp  is  made  .  .  .  effectually  to  aid  the  pomp  of  the 

sentiment  ...  in  Milton.  DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  456. 
The  language  alike  of  poetry  and  prose  attains  a  rhythmical  power 
independent  of  metrical  combinations,  and  dependent  rather  on 
some  subtle  adjustment  of  the  elementary  sounds,  of  words 
themselves  to  the  image  or  feeling  they  convey.  PATER,  Ap., 
p.  57. 

Might  (XI.)  :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  203. 
Mild  (XIX.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

The  mild  or  rough  polemic  of  Halifax  and  Bentley.     SAINTSBURY, 

Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxiv. 
Mimicry:  Macaulay,  I.,  p.  21. 

Mincing  (XII.) :  Mincing  sweetness  of  versification.     GOSSE,  Seven- 
teenth Cent.  St.,  p.  15. 
Minute  (VIII.)  b :  J.  War.  to  present, 

A  minute  and  particular  enumeration  of  circumstances,  judiciously 
selected,  is  what  chiefly  discriminates  poetry  from  history.  J. 
WARTON,  I.,  p.  47. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     191 

Prolixity,  produced  by  this  finical  minuteness  of  language,  ends 
by  distressing  one's  nerves.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  I., 
pp.  365,  366. 

Miraculous  (XXII.)  a :  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  73. 
Misty  (III.):   Ossianic  tumidity  and  mistiness;     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to 

Blake,  p.  cxiii. 

Mock-heroic  :  Jef.  to  present. 
Model  (XXII.)  a :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  10. 
Moderation  (XIX.)  b :  M.  Arnold  to  present. 

Sureness  of  hand  and  moderation  of  work.     ROSSETTI,  Life  of 

Keats,  p.  180. 
Modern  (IV.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

The  term  has  always  designated  a  departure  from 
the  spirit  of  the  ancient  classics  in  this  century ;  occa- 
sionally it  has  denoted  a  departure  from  the  spirit  of 
Medievalism. 

See,  Nature  liastes  her  earliest  wreaths  to  bring, 
With  all  the  incense  of  the  breathing  spring. 
These  lines  have  too  much  prettiness  and  too  modern  an  air.     J. 

WARTON,  Es.  on  Pope,  I.,  p.  11. 
A  pretty  modernism.     GRAY,  II.,  p.  353. 

Werther  ...  is  in  the  modern  style.     HAZLITT,  El.  Lit.,  p.  266. 
Heine's  intense  modernism,  his  absolute  freedom,  his  utter  rejec- 
tion of  stock  classicism  and  stock  romanticism.     M.  ARNOLD, 
Or.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  178. 
Modest  (XIX.)  b  :  Blair  to  present. 
Modulation  (X.):  Jef.  to  present. 

Carefully  modulated  expression.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  89. 
Monochordic    (X.) :    "  In    Memoriam "    is    monochordic    but    not 

monotonous.     T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  of  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  454. 
Monotonous  (II.) :  Rymer  to  present.     Recently  much  in  use. 

The  monotony  of  Johnson's  style  produces  an  apparent  monotony 

of  ideas.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  135. 
Monotonous  and  disgusting.     SATNTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxvii. 
Monumental :  (V.)  ;    The  Dunciad  is  the  most  absolutely  chiselled 
and    monumental  work    "exacted"   in   our   country.       RUSKIN, 
Lectures  on  Art,  pp.  86,  87. 


192     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 
MORAL  (XIV.). 

The  history  of  the  term  "  moral "  may  be  divided 
into  three  periods.  Until  within  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  term  "  moral "  denoted  certain  fixed 
As  conven- 
er^* of1*"  rules  and  ideals  of  conduct,  derived  in  part 
from  Scriptural  authority,  in  part  from  cus- 
tom and  precedent,  and  in  part  perhaps  from  instincts 
of  the  mind  which  were  thought  to  be  permanent  and 
unchangeable.  But  from  whatever  source  derived, 
morality,  composed  of  fixed,  eternal  principles,  stood 
over  against  and  entirely  independent  of  literature  con- 
sidered merely  as  literature.  During  the  first  century 
of  English  criticism,  in  all  the  charges  made  against 
poetry  and  in  the  defences  of  it  alike,  the  common  as- 
sumption was  made  that  literature  could  justify  its 
existence  only  by  inculcating  some  moral  lesson  which 
was  more  or  less  completely  foreign  to  the  nature  of 
literature  as  such.  During  the  latter  portion  of  the 
seventeenth  and  early  portion  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, the  opposition  between  morality  and  poetry, 
though  still  continuing,  was  perhaps  viewed  from  a 
slightly  different  standpoint.  The  imagination  in  po- 
etry was  thought  to  do  violence  to  the  world  of  reality, 
of  order,  of  moral  action ;  and  yet  by  means  of  satire 
and  direct  teaching,  poetry  could  be  thoroughly  per- 
meated by  the  didactic  spirit  and  purpose,  —  could  be 
made  to  do  duty  for  the  cause  which  of  itself  it  would 
violate. 

Gorbodue  is  full  of  notable  morality,  which  it  doth  most  delight- 
fully teach.     SIDNEY,  p.  47- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     193 

To  make  brick  without  straw  or  stubble  is  perhaps  an  easier  labour 
than  to  prove  morals  without  a  world,  and  establish  a  conduct  of 
life  without  the  supposition  of  anything  living  or  extant  besides 
our  immediate  fancy  and  world  of  imagination.  SHAFTESBURY, 
III.,  p.  147. 

Nor  will  a  man,  after  the  perusal  of  thousands  of  these  perform- 
ances, find  his  knowledge  enlarged  with  a  single  view  of  nature, 
not  produced  before,  or  his  imagination  amused  with  any  new 
application  of  those  views  to  moral  purposes.  1750.  S.  JOHN- 
SON, II.,  p.  177. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  —  especially  the  latter 
portion  of  it  —  morality  was  often  identified  with  the 
more  conservative  tendencies  in  literature.  AS  effective 

principles  of 

The  moral  was  that  which  was  most  useful  conduct, 
from  the  external  and  mechanical  point  of  view;  and 
to  this  general  spirit  of  utilitarianism,  literature  could 
in  a  measure  be  made  to  conform  in  so  far  as  the  im- 
agination was  kept  under  constant  restraint  by  the 
judgment. 

A  due  sentiment  of  morals  is  wanting  which  alone  can  make  us 
knowing  in  order  and  proportion,  and  give  us  the  just  tone  and 
measure  of  human  passion.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  218. 

Virtue  is  the  foundation  of  taste,  etc.     GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  331. 

During  the  present  century  the  moral  sense  and  liter- 
ary intuitions  have  been  very  generally  identified  with 
each  other  as  forming  parts  of  one  and  the  AS  developing 

mi       TPP  i  principles  of 

same  mental  process.  The  difference  between  conduct, 
the  ethical  impulse  to  do  and  the  artistic  impulse  to 
create  is  recognized  as  one  of  degree  and  not  of  kind. 
It  has  thus  become  the  business  of  literature,  not  to 
preach  morals,  but  to  be  moral,  and  to  be  moral  simply 
because  it  is  literature. 

13 


194     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

A  pathetic  reflection,  properly  introduced  into  a  descriptive  poem, 
will  have  greater  force  and  beauty,  and  more  deeply  interest  a 
reader,  than  a  moral  one.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  32. 
Impassioned  poetry  is  an  emanation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
part  of  our  nature,  as  well  as  of  the  sensitive.  1818.  HAZLITT, 
Eng.  Poets,  p.  8. 

A  man  to  be  greatly  good  must  imagine  intensely  and  comprehen- 
sively, —  go  out  of  his  own  nature  and  identify  himself  with 
beauty  not  his  own.  The  great  secret  of  morals  is  love.  1821. 
SHELLEY,  VII.,  p.  111. 

If  you  insist  on  my  telling  you  what  is  the  moral  of  the  Iliad,  I 
insist  upon  your  telling  me  what  is  the  moral  of  a  rattlesnake, 
or  the  moral  of  a  Niagara.  1847.  DE  QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  455. 
All  the  virtues  of  style  are  in  their  roots  moral.  They  are  a  rever- 
beration of  the  soul  itself,  and  can  no  more  be  artificially  ac- 
quired than  the  ring  of  silver  can  be  acquired  by  lead. 
MATHEWS,  Lit.  St.,  p.  29. 

Poetry  is  interpretative  both  by  having  natural  magic  in  it  and  by 
having  moral  profundity.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Or.  Es.,  1st  S., 
p.  111. 

Though  it  is  not  the  business  of  art  to  preach  morality,  still  I  think 
that,  resting  on  a  divine  and  spiritual  principle,  like  the  idea  of 
the  beautiful,  it  is  perforce  moral.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction, 
pp.  60,  61. 
Morbid  (VII.)  :  Ros.  to  present. 

Morbid  tone.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  208. 

Motion  (XVIII.):  The  Ancient  Mariner  has  ...  more  of  material 
force  and  motion  than  anything  else  of  the  poet's.     SWINBURNE, 
Es.  &  St.,  p.  264. 
Motive  (XIII.):  Pater. 

Motives  are  symptoms  of  weakness  and  supplements  for  the  defi- 
cient energy  of  the  living  principle,  the  law  within  us.     COLE- 
RIDGE, I.,  p.  166. 
Motley  (II.) :  J.  War.,  Gosse. 

Motley  discourse.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  100. 
Mot-propre :  Saint sbury. 
Movement  (XVIII.)  ;  Poe  to  present. 

The  peculiar  effect  of  a  poet  resides  in  his  manner  and  movement. 
M.  ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  153. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     195 

Moving  (XVII.)  :  J.  War.  to  present, 

That  moving  is  of  a  higher  degree  than  teaching,  it  may  by  this 
appear,  that  it  is  welluigh  both  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  teach- 
ing. SIDNEY,  p.  22. 

Tragical  and  moving.     GQSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  279. 
Mundane  :  Mundane  and  vulgar  in  style.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  225. 
Muscular  (XII.):  Whip.,  Gosse. 

Sentences  full  of  muscular  life  .  .  .  in  Coleridge.     WHIFFLE,  Es. 

&  Rev.,  I.,  p.  417. 
MUSICAL  (X.). 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  term  "  musical  "  denoted  combinations   of   sounds 
and    of    metrical    movements,    which    were  Ag  smooth 
smooth   and   agreeable   to   a   cultivated   and 


critical  ear.  When  the  term  referred  to  the  ( 
metrical  movement,  it  represented  that  which  was 
agreeable  in  sound  because  it  was  regular  and  me- 
thodic. When  the  term  referred  to  the  mere  combi- 
nations of  sounds,  it  perhaps  indicated  a  slight  appeal 
to  the  native  sense  of  hearing  and  harmony. 

Waller's  numbers  are  not  always  musical,  as  — 
Fair  Venus  in  thy  soft  arms 

The  god  of  rage  confine, 
For  thy  whispers  are  the  charms 

Which  only  can  divert  his  fierce  design. 

1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  207. 

A  musical  close  in  our  language  requires  either  the  last  or  the  last 
but  one  to  be  a  long  syllable.     BLAIR,  Khet.,  p.  140. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century,  the 
"musical"  often  denoted  that  blending  and  continuity 

of  sound  —  and  perhaps  of  thought  —  which  As  simple 

elevated  bar- 

is  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  song;.     The  mony  of 

thought  and 

aesthetic  effect  upon  the  reader  was  the  only 


196     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

test  as  to  whether  or  not  this  blending  and  continuity 
had  been  attained. 

The  musical  in  sound  is  the  sustained  and  continuous ;  the  musi- 
cal in  thought  is  the  sustained  and  continuous  also.  1818. 
HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  16. 

Rousseau  is  ...  the  only  musical  composer  that  ever  had  a  toler- 
able ear  for  prose.  Music  is  both  sunshine  and  irrigation  to  the 
mind ;  but  when  it  occupies  and  covers  it  too  long,  it  debilitates 
and  corrupts  it.  1826.  LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  273. 

Milton  is  not  a  picturesque  but  a  musical  poet.  1810.  COLE- 
RIDGE, IV.,  p.  304. 

Spenser's  best  thoughts  were  born  in  music.  1859.  WHIFFLE, 
El.  Lit.,  p.  215. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century,  the 
term  "  musical "  has  directly  referred  only  to  the  sounds 
AS  harmony  an(^  rhythms  of  a  composition,  —  more  di- 
rectly perhaps  to  the  sounds  than  to  the 
rhythms.  It  denotes  primarily  a  harmonious  blending 
of  sounds,  incidentally  of  rhythms,  and  occasionally, 
perhaps,  it  still  indirectly  represents  a  lyrical  strain 
of  thought. 

Happy  coalescence  of  music  and  meaning  (in  Spenser).  LOWELL, 
IV.,  p.  308. 

In  all  poetry,  the  very  highest  as  well  as  the  very  lowest  that  is 
still  poetry,  there  is  something  which  transports,  and  that  some- 
thing in  my  view  is  always  the  music  of  the  verse,  of  the  words, 
of  the  cadence,  of  the  rhythm,  of  the  sounds  superadded  to  the 
meaning.  1889.  SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Lit.,  pp.  26,  27- 

Such  gift  of  appreciation  depends  on  the  habitual  apprehension  of 
men's  life  as  a  whole  .  .  .  the  musical  accordance  between  hu- 
manity and  its  environment.  1878.  PATER,  Ap.  pp.  118,  119. 

Prose  literature  and  music  are  the  characteristic  arts  of  the  cen- 
tury. They  are  in  one  sense  the  opposite  terms  of  art ;  the  art 
of  literature  presenting  to  the  imagination,  through  the  intelli- 
gence, a  range  of  interests  as  free  and  various  as  those  which 
music  presents  to  it  through  the  sense.  ID.,  p.  35. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     197 

Mystical  (III.) :  T.  WiL,  Jef.  to  present. 

I.  Viewed  as  to  its  purpose  the  "  mystical,"  or  mys- 
ticism, often  represents  the  attempt  to  give  more  or 
less  concrete  expression  to  things  purely  spiritual  and 
in  themselves  incomprehensible. 

Some  do  use  after  the  literal  sense  to  gather  a  mystical  under- 
standing, and  to  expound  the  sayings  spiritually.  T.  WILSON, 
Rhet.,  p.  118. 

Novalis  .  .  .  had  an  affinity  with  mysticism,  in  the  primary  and 
true  meaning  of  that  word,  exemplified  in  some  shape  among  our 
own  Puritan  divines.  CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  201. 

Mysticism  proper  is  the  abuse  of  this  tendency  which  prompts  to 
the  impossible  feat  of  soaring  altogether  beyond  the  necessary 
base  of  concrete  realities.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  II.,  p.  38. 

II.  Viewed  as  to  its  effect,  the   "  mystical "  often, 
perhaps    usually,   represents    indefiniteness    of    mental 
imagery,    and    extreme    remoteness    of    suggestion    in 
composition ;    obscurity,    which   is    neither   verbal   nor 
logical  in  its  origin. 

Parabola  .  .  .  resemblance  mystical.     PDTTENHAM,  p.  251. 
The  presence  of  a  mystical  element  is  the  mark  of  all  lofty  imagi- 
nations.    STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  II.,  p.  37- 
Naive  (VII.)  :  Put.,  Blair  to  present. 

The  naive  .  .  .  opposed  to   self-consciousness.      SYMONDS,   Es., 

etc.,  p.  175. 
Naivete  (VII.)  :  Hume  to  present. 

Ingenuous  simplicity  and  naturalness,  so  extreme  as 
to  be  more  or  less  amusing,  and  supposed  to  represent 
a  revelation  of  character  in  its  native  beauty  and  truth. 

The  absurd  naivete  of  Sancho  Pancho.     HUME,  I.,  p.  240. 
Naivete  ...  is  no  other  than  beautiful  nature,  without  affectation 

or  extraneous  ornament.     GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  328. 
Naivete  and  truth  of  local  coloring.     HAZLITT,  El.  Lit.,  p.  119. 


198     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Naivete,  which  becomes  wit  to  the  bystander,  though  simply  the 
natural  expression  of  the  thought  to  him  who  utters  it.     DE 
QTJINCEY,  V.,  p.  156. 
The  French  naivete  always  expresses  a  discovery  of  character. 

BLAIR,  Rhel.,  p.  207. 
The  felicity  and  idiomatic  naivete  ...  of  Walton.      MATHEWS, 

Lit.  St.,  p.  7. 

Naked  (XVI.)  :  Swin.,  Saints.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Namby-Pamby  (XV.)  :  Pope  to  present. 
The  cock  is  crowing, 

The  stream  is  flowing,  etc.     (Wordsworth.) 
This  is  Namby-Pamby.     BYRON,  Life  and  Letters,  p.  669. 
Burns    was  not   a   sickly   sentimentalist,  a  Namby-Pamby   poet. 

HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  170. 
A  seven-syllabled  measure,  which  earned  Philipps  .  .  .  the  name 

of  Namby-Pamby.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  138. 
Narrow  (XIII.)  b :  Stephen.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  170. 
Native  (VII.)  :  Pope  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  75. 
Naturalism :  Swinburne,  Es.  £  St.,  p.  10. 
NATURAL  (VII.). 

The  history  of  the  adjective  "  natural "  does  not 
coincide  by  any  means  with  that  of  the  noun  "  nature." 
AS  the  spon-  ^ie  term  "  natural "  has  perhaps  undergone 
taneous.  no  c}iange  of  meaning  whatever  in  English 
criticism.  It  signifies  that  which  in  the  light  of  pres- 
ent inclination  and  of  past  habit  seems  least  abrupt 
and  unexpected,  that  which  produces  least  jar  and 
surprise  in  its  apprehension.  Since,  however,  one 
always  expects  a  certain  amount  of  change,  since  with- 
out this  change,  in  fact,  expectation  cannot  be  awak- 
ened in  the  mind,  the  "  natural "  sometimes  denotes 
the  spontaneous,  the  unartificial,  the  sincere. 

The  Georgiac,  which  is  not  to  appear  in  the  natural  simplicity  and 
nakedness  of  its  subject,  but  in  the  pleasantest  dress  that  poetry 
can  bestow  on  it.  ADDISOX,  I.,  p.  158. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     199 

Dry  den  .  .  .  had  so  little  sensibility  of  the  power  of  effusions 
purely  natural  that  he  did  not  esteem  them  in  others.  1781. 
S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  340. 

What  has  since  been  called  Artificial  Poetry  was  then  nourishing, 
in  contradistinction  to  natural ;  or  Poetry  seen  chiefly  through 
art  and  books,  and  not  in  its  first  sources.  1844.  HUNT,  Im. 
&  Fancy,  p.  39. 

Simple,  natural,  and  honest.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction. 

More  often,  however,  in  applied  criticism  "natural" 
represents  that  which  is  most  habitual  and  As  tte  usual 
therefore  most  to  be  expected.     It  is  often  orPr<*able- 
closely  synonymous  with  probability. 

Natural  propriety  ...  of  verse.     WEBBE,  p.  63. 
An  apter  and  more  natural  word.    PUTTENHAM,  p.  189. 
Unnatural  .  .  .  and  constrained.     DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  362. 
Whether  the  practice  of  soliloquizing  on  the  stage  be  natural  or  no 

to  us  ...  we  ought  to  make  it  so  by  study  and  application. 

SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  pp.  124,  125. 
Natural  and  easy.     ID.,  p.  183. 
Easy  and  natural.     ADDISON,  I.,  p.  145. 
Natural  and  probable.     BLAIR,  Ehet.,  p.  508. 
Distorted  and  unnatural.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  22. 
Naturally  and  gracefully.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  179. 
Naturally   and    necessarily   to    accomplish   the    order  of  events. 

LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  444. 

Bizarre  or  unnatural.     WHIFFLE,  Lit.  of  Age  of  El.,  p.  232. 
Non-natural,  twisted,  allusive.     SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xliv. 
NATURE  (VII.). 

The  history  of  the  term  "nature"  exhibits  a  devel- 
opment along  two  almost  independent  lines  of  meaning. 
The  variation  in  these  two  general  lines  of  meaning 
does  not  occur  at  the  same  time,  and  hence  it  is  im- 
possible to  divide  the  history  of  the  term  into  well 
defined  periods.  In  general,  however,  five  such  pe- 


200     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

riods   may  be  distinguished,  which   are   more   or   less 
exclusive  of  one  another. 

The  first  period,  which  extends  until  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  includes  two  uses  of  the 
AS  human  term.  Its  first  use  was  similar  to  that  which 
imp'iiws  and*1  &  possessed  in  ancient  criticism.  Nature 
represented  those  primary  activities  of  the 
mind  which  precede,  underlie,  and  for  the  most  part 
determine  all  conscious  elaboration,  study,  and  effort. 
Even  these  primary  activities,  however,  were  conceived 
of  in  two  ways.  On  the  one  hand,  they  were  thought 
to  be  instincts,  which  acted  according  to  fixed  and 
given  methods,  and  which  thus  set  up  unchangeable 
laws  and  principles  for  literature.  On  the  other  hand, 
these  primary  activities  were  regarded  as  impulses, 
which  followed  no  law  or  method  so  far  as  known,  but 
tended  to  disregard  existing  methods  in  view  of  pos- 
sibly better  ones.  There  were  thus,  in  a  sense,  two 
meanings  in  this  primary  use  of  the  term  "  nature." 

Nature  herself  teaches  us  to  choose  the  fit  meter,  the  heroic. 
ARISTOTLE,  Poetics,  p.  15. 

In  art  we  admire  exactness,  in  the  works  of  nature  magnificence ; 
and  it  is  from  nature  that  man  derives  the  faculty  of  speech. 
LONGINUS,  p.  70. 

All  arts  depend  upon  nature.  Only  the  poet,  disdaining  to  be  tied 
to  any  such  subjection,  lifted  up  with  the  vigor  of  his  own  in- 
vention, doth  grow  in  effect  into  another  nature  .  .  .  freely 
ranging  within  the  zodiac  of  his  own  wit.  1583.  SIDNEY, 
p.  7. 

The  poet  is  not  as  the  painter  to  counterfeit  the  natural  by  the 
like  effects  .  .  .  but  even  as  nature  herself  working  by  her  own 
peculiar  virtue  and  proper  instinct,  and  not  by  example  or  medi- 
tation or  exercise  as  all  other  artificers  do.  1585.  PUTTEN- 
HAM,  pp.  312,  313. 


A   HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.     201 

Nature  is  always  the  same,  like  herself;  and  when  she  collects  her 
strength  is  abler  still.  Men  are  decayed,  and  studies :  she  is 
not.  1641.  B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  7- 

In  his  amorous  verses  where  nature  only  should  reign.  1692. 
DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  6. 

It  is  not  reading,  it  is  not  imitation  of  authors,  which  can  produce 
this  fineness ;  it  must  be  inborn ;  it  must  proceed  from  a  genius, 
and  particular  way  of  thinking  which  is  not  to  be  taught,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  imitated  by  him  who  has  it  not  from  nature. 
1693.  ID.,  p.  97. 

The  second  early  meaning  of  the  term  is  closely  con- 
nected   with    its    use    during   the    eighteenth    century. 
Nature    indicated    whatever    comes    to    the  As  external 
mind  through  the  special  senses,  the  outer  fact* 
existence,  whether  consisting  of  present  facts  or  of  past 
events. 

Art  and  Nature  (summary). 

1.  Art  an  exact  imitator  of  nature. 

2.  Art  heightens  the  beauties  of  nature. 

3.  Art  covers  defects  of  nature. 

4.  Art  develops  forms  wholly  beyond  nature.     1585.     PUTTEN- 

HAM,  pp.  308-312. 
Poetry  .  .  .  commonly  exceeds  the  measure  of  nature,  joining  at 

pleasure  things  which  in  nature  would  never  have  come  together. 

BACON,  IV.,  p.  292. 
Nature,  a  thing  so  almost  infinite  and  boundless  as  can  never  be 

fully  comprehended,   but  where  the  images   of  all  things  are 

always  present.     1664.     DRYDEN,  II.,  p.  132. 
With  an  ingenious  flattery  of  nature,  to  heighten  the  beauties  of 

some  parts  and  hide  the  deformities  of  the  rest.     1667.     ID., 

p.  296. 
The  obstacles  which  hindered  the  design  or  action  of  the  play  once 

removed,  it  ends  with  that  resemblance  of  truth  and  nature  that 

the  audience  are  satisfied  with  the  conduct  of  it.     1668.    ID., 

XV.,  pp.  303,  304. 
All  that  is  dull,  insipid,  languishing,  and  without  sinews  in  a  poem 

is  called  an  imitation  of  nature,     1674.     ID.,  V.,  p.  120. 


202     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

From  the1  latter  portion  of  the  seventeenth  century 
to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "nature" 
AS  human  usually  represented  that  part  of  external  fact 
naiiyand  which  relates  to  human  action  and  achieve- 

histqrically  -~~  — - — 

considered.  ment.  The  term  was  otten  employed  in  the 
discussion  of  the  plots  or  characters  of  a  drama.  Hence 
it  became  associated  with  such  expressions  as  "possi- 
bility, probability,  and  historical  truth."  When  thus 
employed,  the  term  derived  its  meaning  wholly  from 
the  past,  and  indicated  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
affairs,  the  established  methods  of  action  and  perform- 
ance. During  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
this  was  almost  the  only  meaning  given  to  the  term 
"  nature." 

There  are  some  that  are  not   pleased  with  fiction,  unless  it  be 
bold ;  not  only  to  exceed  the  work,  but  also  the  possibility  of 
nature.     1650.     HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  451. 
Ariosto's  .  .  .  adventures  are  without  the  compass  of  nature  and 

possibility.     1693.     DRYDEN,  XIIL,  p.  15. 

There  is  nothing  of  nature  and  probability  in  all  this.  ...  It  may 
be  Romance,  but  it  is  not  Nature.     RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  125. 
Those  rules  of  old  discovered,  not  devised, 
Are  nature  still,  but  nature  methodised, 

1711.    POPE,  IL,  p.  38. 
Imitation  of  nature  and  uniformity  of  design.     SWIFT,  XIIL,  p.  33. 

During  the  third  period,  which  includes  the  latter 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  term  "  nature  "  was 
AS  native  employed  in  three  ways.  Often  it  was  em- 

impulse  or 

capacity.  ployed,  like  the  term  "  genius,"  to  explain 
any  bold  and  successful  departure  from  the  ordinary 
and  established  methods  of  composition.  Nature  rep- 
resented the  primary  native  capacities  of  the  mind, 


A    HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL  TERMS.     203 

which,  by  asserting  themselves  in  literature,  widened 
its  range  of  sympathy  and  interest.  Nature  was  thought 
of  as  lawless,  rather  than  as  the  source  of  new  law  and 
method. 

Shakespeare  was  naturally  learned :  he  needed  not  the  spectacle  of 
books  to  read  nature ;  he  looked  inwards  and  found  her  there. 
.  .  .  He  is  always  great  when  some  great  occasion  is  presented 
to  him ;  no  man  can  say  he  ever  had  a  fit  subject  for  his  wit, 
and  did  not  then  raise  himself  high  above  the  rest  of  poets. 
1765.  S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  153. 

As    regards    external   nature,    the   last  half    of   the 
eighteenth  century  was  decidedly  a   period  of   transi- 
tion.    Nature  was  not  considered  in  so  ex-  As  external 
clusively  historical  a  light  as  formerly.     It  order* 
usually  indicated  an  outer  uniformity  and  order,  which 
could  have  been  determined  only  from  past  experience, 
but  still  it  had  some  vague  reference  to  present  fact, 
and  the  ascertained  uniformity  and  order  was  not  al- 
ways taken  as  authoritative  in  literature. 

Characters  in  poetry  may  be  a  little  overcharged  or  exaggerated 
without  offering  violence  to  nature.  1761.  GOLDSMITH,  I., 
p.  339. 

By  nature  we  are  to  suppose  can  only  be  meant  the  known  and 
experienced  course  of  affairs  in  this  world.  Whereas  the  poet 
has  a  world  of  his  own,  where  experience  has  less  to  do  than 
consistent  imagination.  1762.  HURD,  IV.,  p.  324. 

In  Lycidas  there  is  no  nature,  for  there  is  no  truth.  ...  Its  inhe- 
rent improbability  always  forces  dissatisfaction  on  the  mind. 
1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  120. 

After  about  half  a  century  of  forced  thoughts  and  rugged  meter, 
some  advances  toward  nature  and  harmony  had  been  made  by 
Waller  and  Denham.  1781.  ID.,  pp.  307,  308. 


204     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Throughout  all  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  espe- 
cially during  the  latter  half  of  it,  there  may  be  traced 
AS  external  in  criticism  a  growing  sense  of  form  and 
color.  color,  of  beauty  in  external  nature.  This 

conception  of  nature,  however,  was  not  regarded  with 
much  favor  in  criticism,  and  had  very  little  influence 
upon  the  use  of  "  nature  "  as  an  actual  critical  term. 

It  may  be  observed  iii  general  that  description  of  the  external 
beauties  of  nature  is  usually  the  first  effort  of  a  young  genius, 
before  he  hath  studied  manners  and  passions.  1756.  J.  WAR- 
TON,  I.,  p.  35. 

Three  sources  of  beauty,  — 

1.  Man,  e.  g.,  Euripides,  etc. 

2.  Nature,  as  vast  as  it  is,  has  furnished  few  images  to  poets. 

3.  Art.     1759.     GIBBON,  IV.,  p.  23. 

Congreve  .  .  .  draws  a  great  deal  more  from  life  than  from  nature. 
1758.  GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  427- 

The  fourth  period  includes  the  first  few  decades  of 
the  present  century.  Historical  nature  disappeared 
AS  life,  the  from  criticism.  The  sense  of  external  beauty 

essence  of  .  ,         ., 

being.  in  nature  was  considered  as  an  inner  sense 

rather  than  as  beauty  which  was  external  to  the  mind. 
Nature  denoted  life,  inner  and  outer,  the  growing  prin- 
ciple of  all  existence,  inner  impulse  and  outer  devel- 
opment, which  were  perhaps  in  some  manner  to  be 
identified  with  each  other,  and  whose  representative  in 
literature  was  the  imagination. 

The  wonderful  twilight  of  the  mind,  and  mark  Cervantes' s  courage 
in  daring  to  present  it,  and  trust  to  a  distant  posterity  for  an 
appreciation  of  its  truth  to  nature.  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV., 
p.  274. 

From  copying  the  artificial  models,  we  lose  sight  of  the  living  prin- 
ciple of  nature.  1820.  HAZLITT,  El.  Lit.,  p.  20. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL    TERMS.     205 

Poetry  is  an  imitation  of  nature,  but  the  imagination  and  the  pas- 
sions are  a  part  of  man's  nature.  ID.,  PL  Sp.,  p.  4. 

Poets  have  penetrated  into  the  mystery  of  Nature  .  .  .  and  thus 
can  the  spirit  of  our  age,  embodied  in  fair  imagination,  look 
forth  on  us.  1827-  CAHLYLE,  I.,  p.  56. 

Examine  nature  accurately,  but  write  from  recollection ;  and  trust 
more  to  your  imagination  than  to  your  memory.  1833.  COLE- 
RIDGE, VI.,  p.  346. 

During   the   latter   portion    of   the   present    century, 
"nature"  seems  to  have  become   very  largely  a  retro- 
spective term,  being  applied  especially  to  the  AS  external 
writings  of  the  Lake  School  of  poets.     In  so  beauty, 
far  as  actively  employed  in  criticism,  "  nature "  repre- 
sents  the   external  world,  a  world   which   unites  in  a 
manner  the  scientific  conception  of  orderly  development 
with  the  artistic  conception  of  beauty.     In  this  meaning 
of  the  word  "  nature,"  however,  it  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  have  been  employed  as  a  critical  term. 

If  in  the  realistic  tide  that  now  bears  us  on  there  are  some  spirits 
who  feel  nature  in  another  way,  in  the  romantic  way  or  the 
classic  way,  they  Avould  not  falsify  her  in  expressing  her  so. 
HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  63. 

The  old  formula  of  Greek  philosophy,  ffjv  /caret  (frva-iv,  "  to  live  ac- 
cording to  nature,"  might  be  accepted  as  our  rule,  if  "nature" 
be  understood  to  include  the  action  of  the  higher  part  of  our 
humanity  in  controlling  or  modifying  the  lower  and  grosser  part. 
DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  117- 

Nature  is  indeed  the  teacher  of  all  true  poets,  but  like  a  wise 
teacher  she  does  not  put  all  scholars  through  the  same  course 
of  study.  ID.,  p.  181. 

Of  the  things  of  nature  the  mediaeval  mind  had  a  deep  sense  ;  but 
its  sense  of  them  was  not  objective,  no  real  escape  to  the  world 
without  us.    1883.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  218. 
Nauseous  (XXII.)  b :  Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  131 


206     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

-Neat  (V.):  Lodge  to  present. 

Pope  had  a  sense  of  the  neat  rather  than  of  the  beautiful.     LOW- 
ELL, Prose,  IV.,  p.  34. 
Negligent  (XIX.):  Pope  to  present. 

Horace  still  charms  with  graceful  negligence.     POPE,  II.,  p,  75. 
Nemesis:  Retribution  as  it  appears  in  the  world  of  art.     MOULTON, 

Shak.,  etc.,  p.  107- 

Neo-Classicism :  Saintsburj,  Eng.  Pr.  St ,  p.  xxxi. 
Nerveless  (XII.) :  Whip,  to  present. 

Nerveless  and  hysterical  verses.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  269. 
Nervous  (XII):  J.  War.  to  present. 

Sustained  strength  and  energy  of  style. 

Nervous  and  energetic.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  113. 
Keats  entirely  fails  of  Milton's  nervous  severity  of  phrase.     LOW- 
ELL, IV.,  p.  86. 

Daudet's  style  has  taken  on  bone  and  muscle  and  become  conscious 
of  treasures  of  nervous  agility.    H.  JAMES,  Par.  Portraits,  p.  231. 
Neutral  (XV.) :  Jef.,  Gosse.     Jeffrey,  III.,  p.  48. 
New  (IX.)  :  Rymer  to  present. 

Refers  both  to  the  thought  and  to  the  emotion  or 
feeling  of  a  literary  work ;  more  usually,  however,  to 
the  thought. 

The  thoughts  new  and  noble.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  79. 

Keats  .  .  .  has  that  indefinable  newness  and  unexpectedness  which 

we  call  genius.     LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  L,  p.  242. 
The  problem  is  to  express  new  and  profound  ideas  in  a  perfectly 

sound  and  classical  style.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  65. 
Niaiserie  (XL):  Poe,  M.  Arn.  M.  Arnold,  Gel.  Lit.,  etc.,  p.  235. 
Nicety  (V.):  Dry.  to  present. 

In  this  nicety  of  manners  does  the  excellence  of  French  poetry 

consist.     DRYDEN,  V.,  p.  329. 
The  little  niceties  and  fantastical  operations  of  art.     POPE,  X., 

p.  532. 

Trifling  distinctions  and  verbal  niceties.     GRAY,  II.,  p.  147. 
Noble  (XI.) :  Hobbes  to  present. 

The  grand  style,  at  once  noble  and  natural.    LOWELL,  III.,  p.  173. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     207 

Noisy  (XIX. )b  :  Noisy  alexandrines.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  85. 
Nonsense  (XX.)  a :  Jef.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  168. 
NOVELTY   (IX.). 

The  term  u  novelty  "  was  in  greatest  use  in  criticism 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century   and 

the  first  few  decades  of  the  present  century.  AS  extrava- 
gant strange- 
There    is    found    mentioned    novelty    of   Ian-  ness- 

guage,  of  images,  and  more  often  of  thought;  but  far 
more  usually  the  term  "  novelty  "  has  designated  merely 
a  general  impression,  which  the  literary  composition 
as  a  whole  makes  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Pre- 
vious to  the  present  century,  the  term  was  not  very 
much  in  favor.  It  was  employed  to  characterize  ex- 
travagant conceits,  arid  all  abrupt  violations  of  regu- 
larity and  unity  in  composition.  Novelty  was  thought 
to  be  opposed  to  nature,  to  propriety,  and  even  to 
variety ;  it  was  an  affectation  and  a  conceit,  it  stirred 
the  passions,  led  to  excess,  and  "  violated  essential  prin- 
ciples of  literature."  Novelty  was  recognized,  however, 
as  a  legitimate  element  of  the  comical  or  humorous. 

Those  writers  (Cowley,  etc.)  who  lay  on  the  watch  for  novelty 
could  have  little  hope  of  greatness.  .  .  .  Their  attempts  were 
always  analytic ;  they  broke  every  image  into  fragments.  1781. 
S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  pp.  16,  17. 

Addison's  humour  is  so  happily  diffused  as  to  give  the  grace  of 
novelty  to  domestic  scenes  and  daily  occurrences.  ID.,  p.  472. 

During   the  present  century  "novelty"  has   usually 
represented  the  intellectual  surprise  which  is  more  or 

less  consequent  upon  all  change  in  literature.  AS  stimulating 

.  intellectual 

In  the  early  part  or  the  present  century  "nov- strangeness. 

elty"    frequently   indicated  the  general  sense  of  new- 


208      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

ness  which  resulted  from  the  revolution  in  literature 
that  was  then  taking  place.  But  in  so  far  as  the 
sense  of  change  is  not  general,  in  so  far  as  it  arises 
from  the  modification  of  some  specific  feature  of  the 
composition,  and  can  be  localized,  so  to  speak,  the  term 
"  novelty "  tends  to  denote  mere  intellectual  restless- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  writer,  a  desire  for  change  for 
the  sake  of  change,  a  conscious  search  for  the  unex- 
pected, the  striking,  the  surprising. 

In  philosophy  as  in  poetry,  it  is  the  highest  and  most  useful  pre- 
rogative of  genius  to  produce  the  strongest  impression  of  nov- 
elty, while  it  rescues  admitted  truths  from  the  neglect  caused  by 
the  very  circumstance  of  their  universal  admission.  1825.  COLE- 
RIDGE, I.,  p.  117. 
The  native  spirit  of  novelty  and  movement.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD, 

Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  175. 
Numbers  (X.):  Gib.,  Gosse. 

Ripened  into  ease,  correctness,  and  numbers.     GIBBON,  Life  and 

Writings,  I.,  p.  254. 
Numerous  (X.)  :  Campion  to  Emerson. 

,  His  prose  is  numerous  and  sweet.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  8. 
Objective :  R.  Browning,  Sted. 

Shelley  ...  is  a  subjective,  Shakespeare  an  objective  poet.     R. 
BROWNING,  Essay  on  Shelley  in  The  Browning  Society  Papers, 
1881-84,  Pt.  I.,  p.  5. 
Elizabethan  style  objective  rather  than   subjective.      STEDMAN, 

Yic.  Poets,  p.  47- 

Obscene  (XIV.)  :  Dry.,  Jef.  to  present. 
Obscure  (III.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

I.  Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
term  "obscure"  uniformly  indicated  the  indistinct- 
ness and  confusion  which  results  from  an  inexact  use 
of  words,  or  from  an  imperfect  logical  sequence  of 
statement. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     209 

The  worst  kind  of  obscurity  is  that  .  .  .  when  words  that  are 
plain  in  one  sense  have  another  sense  concealed  in  them. 
QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  84. 

An  ambitious  obscurity  of  expression.     HOBBKS,  IV.,  p.  454. 

Shakespeare's  whole  style  is  so  pestered  with  figurative  expres- 
sions that  it  is  as  affected  as  it  is  obscure.  DRYDEN,  VI., 
p.  255. 

Obscurity  bestows  a  cast  of  the  wonderful,  and  throws  an  oracular 
dignity  upon  a  piece  which  hath  no  meaning.  SWIFT,  XIII., 
p.  70. 

II.  Since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
term  "  obscure "  has  often  represented  the  indistinct- 
ness and  suggestive  mystery  of  the  more  profound  prob- 
lems of  human  life;  images  which  produce  sublime 
aesthetic  effects  because  of  their  indistinctness. 

Your  obscurity  ...  is  that  of  too  much  meaning  .  .  .  not  the 
dimness  of  positive  darkness,  but  of  distance.     LAMB,  II.,  p.  80. 
You  ought  to  distinguish  between  obscurity  residing  in  the  uncom- 
monness  of  the  thought,  and  that  which  proceeds  from  thoughts 
unconnected,  and  language  not  adapted  to  the   expression  of 
them.     COLEBIDGE,  Letters,  I.,  pp.  194,  195. 
The  obscurity  itself  is  a  vital  part  of  the  work  of  art  which  deals 
not  with  a  problem,  but  with  a  life.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  127. 
Obsolete  (I.)  :  Dry.  to  present.     Rossetti,  Lives,  p.  88. 
Obvious  (III.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  52. 
Occasional :  Jef.,  Saints.     Jeffrey,  L,  p.  208. 
Oceanic  (XL)  :  Lan.,  Dow. 

Such  an  oceanic  writer  as  Shakespeare.      DOWDEN,  Tr.  &   St., 

p.  252. 
Odd  (IX.)  :  Har.,  Jef.  to  present. 

When  words  or  images  are  placed  in  unusual  juxtaposition  rather 
than  connection,  and  are  so  placed  merely  because  the  juxtapo- 
sition is  unusual,  we  have  the  odd  or  grotesque.  COLERIDGE, 
IV.,  p.  276. 

Offensive  (XXII.)  b :  Swin.  to  present.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit., 
p.  369. 

14 


210     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Old-fashioned  (IX.)  :  Old-fashioned  and  thin.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Con- 

greve,  p.  40. 
Operose  (XII.)  :  Bent.,  Ros. 

Stiffness  and  stateliness  and  operoseness  of  style.     BENTLEY,  II., 

p.  84. 
Oppressive  (XXII.)  b  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Prosaically  oppressive.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  40. 
Opulent  (XI.)  b :  De  Quin.  to  present. 

Wilson's  humour  is  broad,  overwhelming,  riotously  opulent.     DE 

QUINCEY,  III.,  p.  88. 
Oratio-obliqua :  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxiii. 

ORDER  (II.). 

The  term  "  order "  derives  its  original  significance 
and  continually  draws  illustration  from  moral  conduct 
and  from  external  nature.  It  represents  the  concep- 
tion of  things  as  subject  to  law  and  method,  —  part  of 
these  laws  and  methods  being  thought  to  be  known, 
part  of  them  being  merely  assumed  to  have  an  exist- 
ence. As  employed  in  criticism,  the  unknown  laws 
assumed  by  the  term  when  referring  to  the  sounds  of 
a  composition,  are  to  be  traced  to  the  native  sense  of 
harmony  in  the  ear.  But  when  referring  to  the  more 
highly  developed  and  subtle  characteristics  of  litera- 
ture, the  validity  of  the  known  laws  themselves  has 
been  constantly  held  in  question,  being  continually  op- 
posed by  "nature,"  by  passion,  by  imagination,  by  the 
general  romantic  and  Gothic  spirit.  The  term  seems 
to  be  better  adapted  to  scientific  than  to  literary  dis- 
cussions, and  it  has  been  employed  but  very  little  by 
the  critics  of  the  present  century. 

All  composition  has  three  necessary  particulars :  Ordo,  Junctura, 
Numerus.     QUINTILIAN,  II.,  p.  216. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     211 

Passion  requires  a  certain  disorder  of  language,  imitating  the  agi- 
tation and  commotion  of  the  soul.    LONGINUS,  p.  44. 
The  ordering  of  things  invented  .  .  .  called  in  Latin  "  dispositio." 

TH.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  6. 
We  ought  to  join  words  together  in  apt  order  that  the  ear  majr 

delight  in  hearing  the  harmony.     ID.,  pp.  175,  176. 
If  you  will  be  good  scholars,  and  profit  well  in  the  art  of  music, 
shut  your  fiddles  in  their  cases,  and  look  up  to  heaven.     The  or- 
der of  the  spheres  .  .  .  variety  of  seasons,  etc.     1579.     GOSSON, 
p.  26. 

Ovid  ...  pictures  nature  in  disorder,  with  which  the  study  and 

choice  of  words  is  inconsistent.    1666.    DRYDEN,  IX.,  pp.  96,  97- 

A.  due  sentiment  of  morals  is  wanting,  which  alone  can  make  us 

knowing  in  order  and  proportion.     SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  218. 
An  attempt  to  unite  order  and  exactness  of  imagery  with  a  subject 
formed  on  principles  so  professedly  romantic  and  anomalous,  is 
like  giving  Corinthian  pillars  to  a  Gothic  palace.     1778.     T. 
WARTON,  Hist,  Eng.  Pr.,  p.  261. 
An  orderly  and  sweet  sentence,  by  gaming  our  ear,  conciliates  our 

affections.     1824.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  146. 
Organic  (VII.)  :  Cole,  to  present. 

Living  and  organic  style.     DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  151. 
Organ-like  (X.)  :  Organ-like  roll  and  majesty  of  numbers.     LOWELL, 

Prose,  IV.,  p.  338. 
Oriental  (XIX.)  :  Haz.,  Mac. 

Affected  Orientalism  of  ...  Moore's  style.    HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age, 

p.  324. 
ORIGINAL  (XXIII.) . 

The  term  "original"  signified  at  first  the  "imitation 
of  nature"  as  opposed  to  the  imitation  of  authors. 
(See  Imitation.)  As  referring  to  the  author,  the  term 
is  wholly  negative  in  its  meaning,  denoting  merely 
that  the  author  criticised  does  not  borrow  his  senti- 
ments or  form  of  expression  from  another  author.  As 
referring  to  the  completed  literary  product,  or  to  its 
effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader,  originality  denotes 


212     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

that  which  is  new  and  more  or  less  unexpected,  but 
which  is  a't  the  same  time  an  organic  development  of 
that  which  is  already  well  known  and  familiar. 

«      The  most  original  poetry  is  in  fact  imitation,  —  imitation  of  nature. 

1762.     GIBBON,  IV.,  p.  144. 

Every  author,  as  far  as  he  is  great  and  at  the  same  time  original, 
has  had  the  task  of  creating  the  taste  by  which  he  is  to  be  en- 
joyed.   WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  125. 
To  admire  on  principle  is  the  only  way  to  imitate  without  loss  of 

originality.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  203. 

Original,  masculine,  and  striking.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  205. 
All  originality  is  relative.     Every  thinker  is  retrospective.     EMER- 
SON, Rep.  Men,  pp.  189,  190. 

An  original  author  .  .  .  modifies  the  influence  of  tradition,  culture, 
and  contemporary  thought  upon  himself  by  some  admixture  of 
his  own.  LOWELL,  II. ,  p.  84. 

Originality  .  .  .  that  quality  in  a  man  which  touches  human  nature 

at  most  points  of  its  circumference.     LOWELL,  IV.,  pp.  356,  357. 

Every  great  original  writer  brings  into  the  world  an  absolutely 

new  thing,  —  his  own  personality.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  239. 

ORNAMENT  (V.). 

Three  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the  history 
of  the  term  "ornament."  In  early  English  criticism, 
AS  figurative  almost  everything  which  varied  from  ordi- 

falsification  .       _ 

of  the  truth,  nary  conversational  prose  was  characterized 
as  an  ornament,  —  amplification,  comparisons,  epithets, 
and  proverbs  in  verse,  verse  itself,  and  poetical  figures 
of  speech.  Poetical  figures,  in  fact,  and  ornament  were 
almost  identical  with  each  other,  and  the  charge  of 
untruthfulness,  which  was  often  brought  against  poetry 
and  figurative  language,  applied  with  even  greater  force 
to  ornament. 

Yerse  is  but  an  ornament  and  no  cause  to  poetry.     SIDNEY,  p.  11. 

This  ornament  is  given  by  figures  and  figurative  speeches,  which 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     213 

be  the  flowers,  as  it  were,  and  colours,  that  a  poet  setteth  upon 
his  language  of  art.  1585.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  150. 

Figurative  speech  is  a  novelty  of  language.     ID.,  p.  171. 

Figures  be  the  instruments  of  ornament  in  every  language  .  .  . 
and  .be  occupied  of  purpose  to  deceive  the  ear  and  also  the  mind, 
drawing  it  from  plainness  and  simplicity  to  a  certain  doubleness, 
whereby  our  talk  is  the  more  guileful  and  abusing.  ID.,  p.  166. 

Many  good  sentences  are  spoken  by  Danus  to  shadow  his  knavery ; 
and  written  by  poets  as  ornaments  to  beautify  their  work,  and  set 
their  trumpery  to  sale  without  suspect.  1579.  GOSSON,  p.  20. 

And  for  all  that  concerns  ornaments  of  speech,  similitudes,  treasury 
of  eloquence,  and  such  like  emptinesses,  let  it  be  utterly  dismissed. 
BACON,  IV.,  p.  254. 

During  the  seventeenth  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  no  critical  term  reflected  more 
clearly  the  false  glitter  of  current  literature  AS  refined 
than  did  the  term  "  ornament."  By  means  statement, 
of  conventional  epithets  and  brilliant  figures  of  speech, 
the  language  of  poetry  had  become  utterly  estranged 
from  the  language  of  conversational  prose.  The  facts 
of  life,  it  was  thought,  suitable  for  literary  treatment, 
had  already  been  treated  of.  It  remained  only  to  vary 
these  facts  by  ingenious  recombinations  and  by  inge- 
nious methods  of  expression.  This  ingenuity,  when  held 
subservient  to  the  sense  of  past  literary  attainment, 
produced  in  composition  the  quality  of  style  known  as 
ornament. 

Some  words  are  to  be  culled  out  for  ornament  and  colour,  as  we 

gather  flowers  to  strew  houses  or  make  garlands.     1641.     B. 

JONSON,  Timber,  p.  61. 
The  episodes  give  it  more  ornament  and  more  variety.  1693. 

DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  36. 
It  is  to  be  considered  that  the  essence  of  verse  is  regularity,  and 

its  ornament  is  variety.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  346. 


214     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Since  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
"  ornament "  has  been  to  a  great  extent  a  retrospective 
AS  elaborated  term,  referring  to  the  literature  of  the  sev- 

or  conven-  ., 

tionai  fancies,  enteenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  As  an 
active  term  it  lies  upon  the  extreme  limits  of  positive 
and  favorable  use  in  criticism.  The  facts  or  subject- 
matter  of  literary  representation,  now  thought  to  con- 
sist chiefly  of  feelings  and  conflicting  motives  and 
passions  in  the  mind,  require  not  ingenuity  for  their 
combination,  but  insight  for  their  detection.  The  facts 
for  literary  representation  are  thus  inexhaustible.  These 
feelings  and  passions  can  often  be  expressed  only  by 
means  of  figurative  language.  Figurative  language  is 
thus  in  a  sense  the  most  direct  method  of  statement 
possible  for  the  facts  to  be  represented.  "  Ornament " 
has  fallen  into  partial  discredit  during  the  present 
century,  not  because  it  indicates  figurative  language, 
but  because  it  indicates  figurative  language  which  is 
labored  and  studied,  and  because  it  tends  to  denote 
the  literary  polishing  of  facts  externally  given. 

Poetical  ornaments  are  foreign  to  the  purpose;  for  they  only  shew 

a  man  is  not  sorry.     1751.     GRAY,  II.,  p.  225. 
An  ornament  .  .  .  an  incongruity  which  would  shock  the  intelli- 
gent reader,  should  the  poet  interweave  any  foreign  splendor  of 
his  own  with  that  which  the  passion  naturally  suggests.     1798. 
WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  87. 
Ornate  (V.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

Tennyson's  Enoch  Arden  ...  is  ornate.     BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  II., 

p.  330. 

Ostentation  (XIX.):  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

Over-castigated  (IV.) :  Over-castigated  artificial  literary  tone  of  the 
period.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  157- 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     215 

Over-charged:  J.  War.  to  present.     J.  Warton  II.,  p.  205. 

Overflow:  The  term  "overflow"  to  be  used  for  these  verses  in  which 
the  sense  is  not  concluded  at  the  end  of  one  line  or  of  one  couplet, 
but  straggles  on  at  its  own  free  will,  until  it  naturally  closes. 
GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  6. 

Over-jewelled  (Y.) :  Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  pp.  200,  201. 

O ver-languaged :  Keats  was  over-languaged  at  first.  LOWELL,  Prose, 
I.,  p.  241. 

Over-mannered  (IV.)  :  Over-mannered  style  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  34. 

Overshining  (V.) :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  16. 

Overworked:  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  428. 

Overwrought :  Blair  to  present. 

Ambitious  and  overwrought.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  476. 

Padding:  Padding  in  Cooper's  novels.     WHIPPLE,  Am.  Lit.,  p.  50. 

Painted  (V.)  :  Pope  to  present. 

This  painted  florid  style.     POPE,  VIII.,  p.  219. 

Pale  (V.):  H.  James  to  present. 

Pale,  pretty  washed  out  work.     BROOKE,  Tennyson,  p.  54. 

Pallid  (V.):  Elowerless  and  pallid.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  137. 

Palpable  (XXII.)  b :  Tangible  and  palpable  outline.  SWINBURNE, 
Mis.,  p.  9. 

Panegyrical  (XXI.)  :  Swin.,  Gosse.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  74. 

Parade  (V.):  Without  strain  or  parade.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  391. 

Paradoxical  (VIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  166. 

Particular  (VIII.) :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Used  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  theory  of  poetry. 
(See  Poetical.) 

I.  As  characteristic  of  history  rather  than  poetry. 

Clarendon's  narration  ...  is  stopped  too  frequently  by  particu- 
larities. S.  JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  83. 

II.  As  characteristic  of  the  poetical  as  against  the 
historical. 

In  Homer  and  Shakespeare  .  .  .  every  image  is  the  particular  and 
unalienable  property  of  the  person  who  uses  it.  J.  WARTON,  1., 
p.  318. 


216     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

III.  As  representing  merely  the  "picturesque"  ele- 
ments of  the  poetical. 

By  poetic  expression  I  do  not  mean  merely  a  vividness  in  particu- 
lars, but  the  right  feeling  which  heightens  or  subdues  a  passage 
or  a  whole  poem  to  the  proper  tone,  and  gives  eutireness  to  the 
effect.     LOWELL,  Lit.  Es.,  I.,  p.  245. 
PASSION(XIV.). 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  term  "  passion "  was  used  chiefly  in  two  ways. 
AS  mental  Often  the  term  was  placed  in  antithesis 
excitation.  ^Q  «  manners  »  and  «  characters,"  —  passions, 
manners,  and  characters  being  the  three  chief  features 
of  dramatic  representation.  According  to  this  use  of 
the  term,  which  was  derived  from  ancient  criticism, 
passion  included  anger,  lust,  mirth,  pity,  grief,  fear,  any 
emotion,  in  fact,  or  mental  excitation  of  which  human 
conduct  gives  evidence. 

Poets,  after  they  have  lost  their  power  of  depicting  the  passions, 
turn  naturally  to  the  delineation  of  character,  e.  g.,  the  picture 
of  the  palace  of  Odysseus  may  be  called  a  sort  of  comedy  of 
manners.  LONGINUS,  pp.  20,  21. 

Passion  contributes  as  largely  to  sublimity  as  the  delineation  of 
character  to  amusement.  ID.,  p.  56. 

Under  this  general  head  of  manners  the  passions  are  naturally  in- 
cluded as  belonging  to  the  characters.  1679.  DRYDEN,  VI., 
p.  274. 

Sentiments  which  raise  laughter  can  very  seldom  be  admitted  with 
any  decency  into  an  heroic  poem,  whose  business  is  to  excite 
passions  of  a  much  nobler  nature.  1711-  ADDISON,  III., 
p.  188. 

Description  of  the  external  beauties  of  nature  is  usually  the  first 
effort  of  a  young  genius,  before  he  hath  studied  manners  and 
passions.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  35. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     217 

William  Brown's  poetry  is  riot  without  beauty ;  but  it  is  the  beauty 
of  mere  landscape  and  allegory,  without  the  manners  and  pas- 
sions that  constitute  human  interest.  1819.  CAMPBELL,  I., 
p.  218. 

Often,   also,  the   term  "  passion "   was   employed   to 
designate  the  primary  desires  and  appetites,  especially 

love   between   the   sexes.      This   use   of   the 

As  appetite. 

term  is  occasionally  found  even  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  criticism  of  the 
novel.  When  thus  employed  "passion"  was  thought 
to  be  wholly  active  and  impulsive,  but  also  crude  and 
unrefined.  It  might  furnish  a  fit  theme  for  literary 
treatment,  but  as  to  the  active  production  of  literature, 
it  was  thought  to  be  unregulated  and  uncreative.  When 
the  native  sense  of  beauty  had  come  to  be  distinguished 
from  artifice,  this  use  of  the  term  "  passion  "  was  looked 
upon  with  less  disfavor  by  the  critics. 

Passions  are  spiritual  rebels  and  raise  sedition  against  the  under- 
standing. 1641.  B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  4. 

Any  sudden  gust  of  passion  (as  a.n  ecstasy  of  love  in  an  unex- 
pected meeting).  1668.  DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  314. 

Thus  by  a  little  affectation  in  love  matters,  and  with  the  help  of  a 
romance  or  novel,  a  boy  of  fifteen  or  a  grave  man  of  fifty  may 
be  sure  to  grow  a  very  natural  coxcomb,  and  feel  the  belle  pas- 
sion in  earnest.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  pp.  2,  3. 

Wit  and  passion  are  entirely  incompatible.  When  the  affections 
are  moved,  there  is  no  place  for  the  imagination.  1742.  D. 
HUME,  I.,  p.  242. 

By  beauty  I  mean  that  quality  or  those  qualities  in  bodies  by 
which  they  cause  love  or  some  passion  similar  to  it.  1756. 
BURKE,  I.,  p.  113. 

If  the  imagination  be  lively,  the  passions  will  be  strong.  J.  WAR- 
TON,  I.,  p.  102. 

By  genius  is  meant  those  excellencies  that  no  study  or  art  can 


218      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

communicate,  —  such  as  ...  humour,  passion,  etc.  1758. 
GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  418. 

To  take  the  passion  out  of  a  novel  is  something  like  taking  the 
sunlight  out  of  a  landscape.  3874.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib., 
p.  239. 

If  a  novel  natters  the  passions  and  exalts  them  above  the  princi- 
ples, it  is  poisonous.  Ho  WELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  95. 

Previous  to  the  present  century,  it  was  occasionally 
recognized  that  passion  in  an  author  would  lead  to 
AS  sincerity  earnestness,  sincerity,  and  directness  in  his 

and  direct- 
ness, methods    of    composition.     Passion    guarded 

against  false  ornaments  and  conceits ;  still  it  was  not 
considered  as  an  integral  part  of  the  actual  process  of 
composition.  It  might  be  an  ethical  prerequisite  for 
art,  but  it  was  not  art,  nor  artistic ;  it  was  too  primi- 
tive and  unrefined. 

But  if  my  faith,  my  hope,  my  love,  my  true  intent, 

My  liberty,  my  service  vowed,  my  time  and  all  be  spent.    (Dyer.) 

This  is  ...  vehement,  swift,  and  passionate.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  244. 

Raleigh  is  ...  lofty,  insolent,  passionate.     ID,,  p.  77. 

To  which  poetry  would  be  made  subsequent,  or  indeed  rather  pre- 
cedent, as  being  less  subtle  and  fine,  but  more  simple,  sensuous, 
and  passionate.  1644.  MILTON,  Mis.,  III.,  p.  473. 

No  poet  .  .  .  can  do  anything  great  in  his  own  way,  without  the 
imagination  or  supposition  of  a  divine  presence,  which  may  raise 
him  to  some  degree  of  this  passion  we  are  speaking  of.  SHAFTES- 
BURY,  I.,  p.  39. 

Earl  Percy's  lamentation  over  his  enemy  is  generous,  beautiful, 
and  passionate.  1710.  ADDISON,  II.,  p.  378. 

Passion  runs  not  after  remote  allusions.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  119. 

During  the   present    century,   especially   during   the 

early   portion   of   it,   passion   has  been  very    generally 

AS  intense  po-  considered  as  one  of  the  two  or  three  essen- 

[ng*  tial    characteristics    of    poetry,    imagination 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     219 

and  rhythm  being  the  other  requirements.  Passion 
represents  an  ardent  devotion  to  a  principle,  an  ethical 
purpose,  an  esthetic  ideal.  It  is  impulse  and  desire 
almost  wholly  disconnected  from  the  primal  appetites, 
and  permeated,  as  it  were,  with  the  highest  aesthetic 
feelings  and  intuitions. 

The  only  qualities  I  can  find  in  Dryden  that  are  essentially  poeti- 
cal are  a  certain  ardour  and  impetuosity  of  mind,  with  an  excel- 
lent ear.  ...  A  great  command  of  language  he  certainly  has  .  .  . 
but  it  is  not  poetical,  being  neither  of  the  imagination  nor  of  the 
passions ;  I  mean  the  amiable,  the  ennobling,  or  the  intense  pas- 
sions. 1805.  WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  253. 

But  passion  —  the  all  in  all  in  poetry  —  is  everywhere  present, 
raising  the  low,  dignifying  the  mean,  and  putting  sense  into 
the  absurd.  1808.  LAMB,  Poems,  P.  &  Es.,  p.  257. 

The  elevation  of  tone  arises  from  the  strong  mood  of  passion. 
1814.  SCOTT,  Life  of  Swift,  p.  453. 

Imagination  is  as  the  immortal  God  which  should  assume  flesh  for 
the  redemption  of  mortal  passion.  1819.  SHELLEY,  II.,  p.  14. 

Poetry  is  ...  the  natural  impression  of  any  object  or  event,  by 
its  vividness  exciting  an  involuntary  movement  of  imagination 
and  passion.  1818.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  1. 

M.  Coppee's  poetry  .  .  .  possesses  sentiment,  but  hardly  passion. 
DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  421. 

The  writings  of  the  romantic  school,  of  which  the  aesthetic  poetry 
is  an  afterthought,  mark  a  transition,  not  so  much  from  the 
pagan  to  the  mediaeval  ideal,  as  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  degree 
of  passion  in  literature.  1883.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  214. 

But  for  positive  passion,  for  that  absolute  fusion  of  the  whole  na- 
ture in  one  fire  of  sense  and  spirit.  1869.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  & 
St.,  p.  307. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
use  of  the  term  "passion"  in  criticism  has  been  very 
largely  influenced    by  psychological   thought  ^  inte]Qse 
and  discussion.      Passion,   considered  as  an  feelill8:- 


220     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

integral  portion  of  the  aesthetic  activity  of  the  mind, 
is  stimulated    almost   wholly   by  the   mental   imagery ; 
passion,  as  defining   its   relations  to  the   other  mental 
capacities,  may  be  indeed  identified  in  part  with  poet- 
ical  feeling,   but   it   represents   also   the   more   primal 
impulses,  the  sense  of  power,  the  appetites.     Passion 
is  often  placed  in  antithesis  to  the  imagination  and  the 
reason,  and  from  this  antithesis  it  obtains  a  more  gen- 
eral meaning  than  it  possessed  in  the  early  portion  of 
the   century.     This    meaning   of    the  term   is    perhaps 
little  more  than  its  preceding  use  viewed  from  a  dif- 
ferent standpoint ;  but  the  critics  have  not  as  yet  iden- 
tified the  two  uses  with  each  other  in  actual  criticism. 
The  excellence  of  writing,  whether  in  prose  or  verse,  consists  in  a  con- 
junction of  Reason  and  Passion.    1811.   WORDSWORTH,  II.,p.  65. 
Men  act  from  passion,  and  we  can  only  judge  of  passion  by  sym- 
pathy.    1826.     HAZLITT,  Plain  Speaker,  p.  59. 
Passion  of  any  kind  may  become  in  some  degree  ludicrous  when 
disproportioned  to  its  exciting  occasions.     1848.     DE  QUINCEY, 
XL,  p.  69. 

Our  passions  in  general  are  to  be  traced  more  immediately  to  the 
active  part  of  our  nature,  to  the  love  of  power,  or  to  strength  of 
will.     1850.     HAZLITT,  Sk.  &  Essays,  p.  344. 
Our  very  passion  has  become  metaphysical,  and  speculates  upon 

itself.     LOWELL,  Prose  Works,  II.,  p.  136. 

A  passion,  of  which  the  outlets  are  sealed,  begets  a  tension  of 
nerve,  in  which  the  sensible  world  comes  to  one  with  a  reinforced 
brilliancy  and  relief,  —  all  redness  is  turned  into  blood,  all  water 
into  tears.  Hence  a  wild,  convulsed  sensuousness  in  the  poetry 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  in  which  the  things  of  nature  begin  to  play 
a  strange,  delirious  part.  1883.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  218. 
Pastoral  (XXI.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Kinds  of  poetry  .  .  .  heroic,  scommatic,  pastoral.     HOBBES,  IV., 

p.  444. 

Pastoral  .  .  .  which,  not  professing  to  imitate  real  life,  requires  no 
experience.     S.  JOHNSON,  VIII. ,  p.  325. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     221 
PATHOS  (XVII.). 

The  term  "pathos"  has,  in  general,  always  denoted 
the*  sympathy  which  is  produced  in  the  mind  of  the 
reader  by  the  representation  of  feeling  or  AS  the  excit- 

T  . ,  ing  or  stir- 

passion  in  a  literary  production.  Until  the  ring, 
latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  repre- 
sentation of  any  passion  whatever  was  said  to  be  pa- 
thetic if  only  the  representation  were  made  sufficiently 
striking  and  impressive.  It  was,  however,  at  the  same 
time  recognized  that  this  impressiveness  was  more 
likely  to  be  attained  by  the  representation  of  the  more 
violent  and  conflicting  passions,  —  those  which  would 
lead  to  tragical  situations  and  tragical  resolutions  of 
plot  development.  The  critical  value  of  the  term 
"  pathos  "  during  this  early  period  of  its  history  may 
be  designated  by  some  such  .  series  of  expressions  as 
"exciting,"  "stirring,"  "affecting,"  and  "  moving," — 
words  which  may  express  compassion  and  pity,  but 
need  not  necessarily  do  so. 

The  moving  pathetical  figure,  Pottyposis.     1580.     HARVEY,  p.  24. 

Yirgil  always  fitteth  his  matter  in  hand  with  words  agreeable  unto 
the  same  affection,  which  he  expresseth,  as  in  his  Tragical  excla- 
mations, what  pathetical  speeches  he  frameth  !  1586.  WEBBE, 
p.  46. 

The  most  delightful  beauty,  the  most  engaging  and  pathetic,  is 
that  which  is  drawn  from  real  life,  and  from  the  passions. 
SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  105. 

Most  pathetic  and  most  interesting,  and  by  consequence  the  most 
agreeable.  1742.  D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  264. 

The  sublime  and  the  pathetic  are  the  two  chief  nerves  of  all  genu- 
ine poesy.  What  is  there  transcenden tally  sublime  or  pathetic 
in  Pope?  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  vi. 


222     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Howe's  genius  was  rather  delicate  and  soft  than  strong  and  pa- 
thetic. ID.,  p.  268. 

Cato  wants  action  and  pathos;  the  two  hinges  on  which  a  just 
tragedy  ought  to  turn.  1756.  ID.,  p.  257- 

Whence  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  action,  having  an  essential  dig- 
nity, is  always  interesting,  and  by  the  simplest  management  of 
the  poet  becomes  in  a  supreme  degree  pathetic.  1751.  HURD, 
II.,  p.  34. 

Three  kinds  of  pathos :  — 

1.  Sympathy  for  humble  pity  and  contrition. 

2.  Sympathy  for  distresses  of  love. 

3.  Another  kind  of  pathos  arises  from  magnanimity  in  distress, 

which,  managed  by  a  skilful  hand,  will  touch  us  even  where 
we  detest  the  character  which  suffers.     GRAY,  I.,  p.  400. 
As  human  passions  did  not  enter  the  world  before  the  fall,  there  is, 
in  Paradise  Lost,  little  opportunity  for  the  pathetic. 

During  the  present  century  the  term  u  pathos "  has 
occasionally  indicated  a  pensive  meditation,  a  sympa- 
AS  meditative  thetic  contemplation  of  human  life  in  gen- 
compassion.  era]?  a  broo(jmg  over  the  broader  traits  of 
actual  life  in  view  of  ideals  which  react  little  or  none 
into  actual  conditions,  and  which  might  or  might  not 
be  applicable  to  any  special  condition  or  event. 

A  pathetic  reflection,  properly  introduced  into  a  descriptive  poem, 

will  have  greater  force  and  beauty,  and  more  deeply  interest  a 

reader,  than  a  moral  one.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  32. 
There  is  a  meditative  as  well  as  a  human  pathos  ...  a  sadness  that 

has  its  seat  in  the  depths  of  reason.     1802.     WORDSWORTH,  II., 

p.  128. 
To  give  to  universally  received  truths  a  pathos  and  spirit,  which 

shall  readmit  them  into  the  soul  like  revelations  of  the  moment. 

1811.     ID.,  p.  63. 
Wordsworth  has  a  meditative  pathos,  a  union  of  deep  and  subtle 

thought  with  sensibility.     1817.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  493. 
Pathetic  meditation.     M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Essays,  p.  441. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     223 

Usually,  however,  the  pathetic  refers  to  concrete  and 
specific  events.  From  the  standpoint  of  an  ideal  or  of 
ideals,  the  mind  dwells  upon  the  essential  As  com  assi(m 
incongruities  in  these  specific  facts  and and  pity* 
events,  and  sympathy  and  compassion  go  out  to  those 
characters  or  persons  whose  fortunes  and  destinies  are 
thus  affected.  Pathos  is  sympathy  for  the  passions  and 
feelings  represented  in  a  literary  production,  when  those 
passions  and  feelings  are  displayed  in  a  manner  which 
the  reader  from  his  experience  must  regard  as  destruc- 
tive of  natural  growth  and  development,  and  when  his 
sympathy  and  interest  are  made  to  centre  upon  these 
imperfect  conditions  rather  than  upon  their  possible 
amelioration  and  improvement. 

Yet  so  it  is,  that,  though  the  feelings  of  pathos  and  ridicule  seem 
so  widely  different,  a  certain  tincture  of  the  pitiable  makes  comic 
distress  more  irresistible.  1819.  CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  71. 

Man  is  the  only  animal  that  laughs  and  weeps ;  for  he  is  the  only 
animal  that  is  struck  with  the  difference  between  what  things 
are  and  what  they  ought  to  be.  1819.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com. 
Writers,  p.  1. 

But  humour  in  men  of  genius  is  always  allied  to  pathos.  1841. 
WILSON,  VII.,  p.  78. 

Straightforward  pathos  .  .  .  too  sternly  touched  to  be  effusive  and 

tearful.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  260. 
Pedantic  (VII.)  :  Dekker  to  present. 

I.    An    inappropriate     elaboration     and     display     of 
learning. 

Pedantry  is  the  unseasonable  ostentation  of  learning.  S.  JOHN- 
SON, III.,  p.  314. 

If  by  pedantry  is  meant  that  minute  knowledge  which  is  derived 
from  particular  sciences  and  studies,  in  opposition  to  the  general 


224     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

notions  supplied  by  a  wide  survey  of  life  and  nature,  Cowley 
certainly  errs  by  introducing  pedantry  far  more  frequently  than 
Tasso.  ID.,  VII.,  p.  47- 

II.    More  usually  an   inappropriate   conscious  elabo- 
ration of  any  kind. 

Stiffest  pedantry  and  conceit.     SHAITESBURY,  L,  p.  202. 
"  Pedantry  consists  in  the  use  of  words  unsuitable  to  the  time,  place, 

and  company.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  272. 

Pedantry,  which  consisted  in  unnecessary,  and  perhaps  unintelli- 
gible references  to  ancient  learning,  was  afterwards   combined 
with  other  artifices  to  obtain  the  same  end.     HALLAM,  III., 
p.  240. 
Pedestrian  (XVIII.)  :  Saints.,  Gosse. 

Pedestrian,  unimaginative,  level,  neutral.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit., 

III.,  p.  73. 

Peerless  (XXII.)  a  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  45. 
Pellucid  (III.):  Hal.,  Low. 

Calm  and  pellucid  as  mountain  tarns.    LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  p.  36. 
Penetrative  (XX.)  ft:  M.  Am.  to  present. 

Penetrative  and  sympathetic  imagination.     LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit:  Es., 

L,  p.  243. 
The  tender,  penetrating  fiction  of  Richardson.     GOSSE,  Eighteenth 

Century,  p.  385. 
A   penetrativeness  half  pleasurable,  half  melancholy.      LOWELL, 

O.  E.  D.,  p.  20. 

Pensive  (XIV.)  :  T.  War.  to  present. 
Perfect  (XXII.)  a  \  Rymer  to  present. 

There  is  hardly  anything  more  exquisite  and  more  perfect  than 

history.     RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  pp.  57,  58. 
Perfume :  The  perfume  of  the  delicately  chosen  phrase.     GOSSE,  Life 

of  Congreve,  p.  135. 
Periodic  (II.):  De  Quin.,  Min. 
Perplexed  (II.) :  Dry.  to  present. 
Personal :  Swin.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  56. 
Personality :  In  our  approach  to  the  poetry,  we  necessarily  approach 
the  personality  of  the  poet.     R.  BROWNING,  Browning  Society 
Papers,  1881-84.     Pt.  I.,  p.  5. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.     225 

Perspicacity  (III.) :  Camp,  to  present. 

This  botanizing  perspicacity.     CAMPBELL,  p.  116. 

Perspicacity  and  perspicuity.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  116. 
PERSPICUITY  (III.).  - 

"  Perspicuity  "  is  the  technical  expression  for  clear- 
ness in  composition,  being,  according  to  rhetorical 
theory,  one  of  the  three  or  four  cardinal  From  gram- 

r  j    i  T  T       T-.      T  i     matical  con- 

requirements   for   style.       In   early   English  struction. 
criticism   it  resulted  chiefly  from   the  mere  choice  of 
words,  and  from  the  simplest  elements  of  grammatical 
construction.      Literary  works,  especially   translations, 
were    characterized    as    perspicuous,    which,    to    us    at 

least,  are  hopelessly  vague  and  obscure. 

I  have  delivered  mine  author's  meaning  with  as  much  perspicuity 
as  so  mean  a  scholar  .  .  .  was  well  able  to  perform.  THOS. 
NEWTON  (Pref.  to  Tr.  of  Seneca),  Spenser  Society,  XLIIL,  p.  2. 
Frame  your  style  to  perspicuity  and  to  be  sensible ;  for  the  haughty, 
obscure  verse  doth  not  much  delight,  and  the  verse  that  is  too 
easy  is  like  a  tale  of  a  roasted  horse.  GASCOIGNE,  p.  36. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries,  perspicuity  was  thought  to  depend 
chiefly  upon  an  orderly  and  methodic  ar-  From  logical 
rangement  of  the  sentences  and  of  the  construction- 
thought  expressed  in  a  composition.  This  is  perhaps 
the  more  common  use  of  the  term  even  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time. 

Order  helps  much  to  perspicuity,  as  confusion  hurts.     1641.     B. 

JONSON,  Timber,  p.  63. 
In  the  better  notion  of  wit  considered  as  propriety,  surely  method 

is   necessary  for  perspicuity    and  harmony   of  parts.      1707. 

POPE,  VI.,  p.  34. 
Sheffield  .  .  .  had  the  perspicuity  and  elegance  of  an  historian,  but 

not  the  fire  and  fancy  of  a  poet.    1781.    S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  485. 
15 


226     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Occasionally,  however, —  especially  in  the  present 
century,  —  perspicuity  evidently  arises  chiefly  from  the 
From  mental  vividness  of  the  mental  imagery  employed, 
imagery.  rather  than  from  the  merely  grammatical  and 
logical  features  of  a  composition. 

Have  images  of  nature  in  the  memory  distinct  and  clear  ...  a 
sign   of  this  is   perspicuity,   propriety,   and    decency.       1650. 
HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  453. 
The  natural  and  perspicuous  expression,  which  spontaneously  rises 

to  the  mind.     1824.     MACAULAY,  IV.,  p.  454. 
Perspicuity,  —  the  only  question  is,  Will  it  tell  ?     BAGEHOT,  I., 

p.  31. 
Persuasive  (XXII.)  b:  Gosse. 

The  poets  were  from  the  beginning  the  best  persuaders.     PUTTEN- 

HAM,  p.  25. 
Pert  (XVIII.):  Gray  to  present. 

Pert  familiarity.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  266. 

Petty  (XI.) :  Hunt,  Stephen.     Hunt,  Wit  &  Humour,  p.  115. 
PHILISTINISM  (XXII.)  b :  Car.  to  present. 

Primarily,  and  in  theory,  the  term  indicates  insensi- 
bility to  beauty.  In  actual  criticism  the  term  indicates 
a  lack  of  that  which  the  critic  considers  as  most  fun- 
damental or  essential  in  literary  composition.  Thus 
u  philistinism  "  has  represented  :  — 

Insensibility  to  propriety.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  29. 

Utilitarianism.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  58. 

Lack  of  imagination.     LOWELL,  II.,  p.  359. 

Insensibility  to  beauty.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  pp,  162-67. 

Want  of  "  openness  to  ideas."     ID.,  p.  176. 

The  apparent  rhetorical  truth  of  things.     ID.,  p.  304. 

Indifference  to  the  higher  intellectual  interests.     STEPHEN,  III., 

p.  306. 

Lack  of  the  realistic  spirit.     HOWELLS,  Grit  &  Fiction,  p.  107. 
Lack  of  "  exaltation  of  sentiment  and  thought."     SATNTSBURY,  Es. 

in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  88. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      227 

Philosophical  (XX.)  b  :  Newton,  Wil. 

Gravity  of  philosophical  sentences  ...  in  Seneca.     T.  NEWTON, 

Spenser  Society,  Yol.  XLIIL,  p.  2. 
Photographic  (III  )  :  Saints.,  Gosse. 

Photographically  minute.     GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  128. 
Picaresque  (XXI.) :  Hal.,  Mac. 

The  picaresque  or  rogue  style,  in  which  the  adventures  of  the  low 
and  rather  dishonest  part  of  the  community  are  made  to  furnish 
amusement  for  the  great.     HALLAM,  I.,  pp.  248,  249. 
Pictorial  (III.)  :  Hunt  to  present.     Recently  much  in  use. 

Artists  err  in  the  confounding  of  poetic  with  pictorial  subjects. 

LAMB,  Mrs.  Leicester's  School,  p.  312. 
Gray  is  pictorial  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term,  much  more  than 

imaginative.     LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  p.  17. 

That  double  command  at  once  of  the  pictorial  and  the  musical  ele- 
ments of  poetry  in  which  no  English  poet  is  Spenser's  superior. 
SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eug.  Lit ,  p.  86. 
PICTURESQUE  (XVI.). 

Three  periods  may  be  distinguished  in  the  history 
of  the  term  "  picturesque."  Previous  to  the  present 
century,  occasionally  to  the  present  time,  it  AS  striking 

,    .  ,  .   ,  .    .  ,     Pictorial 

represented  mental  imagery  which  was  vivid,  effects, 
full  of  color,  and  more  or  less  suggestive  of  strength 
and   power,  —  images  which  were  "fit   for  a   picture," 
a   picture,  however,  always   "  in   the    Gothic   style   of 
painting." 

Mr.  Philipps  has  two  lines  which  seem  to  me  what  the  French  call 
very  picturesque :  — 

All  hid  in  snow,  in  bright  confusion  lie, 
And  with  one  dazzling  waste  confuse  the  eye. 

1712.    POPE,  VI,  p.  178. 

Such  circumstances  as  are  best  adapted  to  strike  the  imagination 
by  lively  pictures  .  .  .  the  selection  of  which  chiefly  constitutes 
true  poetry.  1756.  J.  WAIITON,  I.,  p.  26. 

His  sea-green  mantle  waving  with  the  wind. 
This  is  ...  highly  picturesque.     ID,  p.  21. 


228       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

In  these  lone  walks  (their  days  eternal  bound), 
These  moss-grown  domes,  with  spirey  turrets  crowned, 
Where  awful  arches  make  the  noonday  night, 
And  the  dim  windows  shed  a  solemn  light.     (Pope.) 
The  epithets  are  picturesque.     ID.,  p.  313. 
There  is  great  picturesque  humour  in  the  following  lines  :  — 
He  buffeted  the  Breton  about  the  cheeks, 
That  he  looked  like  a  lantern  all  his  life  after. 

1778.     T.  WARTON,  Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  p.  187. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
picturesque  represented  a  high  degree  of  contrast  in 
AS  contrast-  the  poetical  imagery,  which,  however,  by 

ing  pictorial  . 

effects.  suggestion    could  still  be  taken  up  into   an 

aesthetic  unity,  —  a  unity  higher  than  that  of  pictorial 
effects. 

The  picturesque  contrasts  of  Character  in  Othello  are  almost  as 
remarkable  as  the  depth  of  the  passion.  1817-  HAZLITT,  III., 
p.  31. 

The  picturesque  depends  chiefly  on  the  principle  of  discrimination 
or  contrast.  ...  It  runs  imperceptibly  into  the  fantastical  and 
grotesque.  1819.  ID.,  Table  Talk,  pp.  448,  449. 

How  significant,  how  picturesque.     1828.     MACAULAY,  I.,  p.  142. 

Spenser's  descriptions  are  exceedingly  vivid  .  .  .  not  picturesque 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  but  composed  of  a  wonderful 
series  of  images,  as  in  our  dreams.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  249. 

In  the  Greek  drama  one  must  conceive  the  presiding  power  to  be 
Death ;  in  the  English,  Life.  What  Death  ?  What  Life  ?  That 
sort  of  death  or  life  locked  up  or  frozen  into  everlasting  slumber, 
which  we  see  in  sculpture ;  that  sort  of  life,  of  tumult,  of  agi- 
tation, of  tendency  to  something  beyond,  which  we  see  in  paint- 
ing. The  picturesque,  in  short,  domineers  over  English  tragedy ; 
the  sculpturesque  or  the  statuesque  over  the  Grecian.  1838. 
DE  QTJINCEY,  X.,  p.  315. 

Picturesque  :  the  ancients  had  neither  the  word  or  the  thing  which 
it  represents.  ID.,  pp.  308,  309. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.     229 

More  recently  the  term  has  occasionally  been  given 
a  somewhat  unfavorable  meaning.  When  vivid  con- 
trasts are  made  for  the  sake  of  the  contrasts,  As  mere  pic_ 
and  not  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  into  re-  torial  effects- 
lief  their  ulterior  unity,  when  highly  colored  images 
are  unnecessarily  scattered  throughout  a  literary  pro- 
duction, then  the  picturesque  comes  to  be  regarded  as 
a  sensuous  play  upon  mere  color  and  form,  as  some- 
thing which  negates  the  higher  ethical  and  aesthetic 
purposes  of  art. 

Carlyle's  .  .  .  innate  love  of  the  picturesque  ...  is  only  another 
form  of  the  sentimentalism  he  so  scoffs  at,  perhaps  as  feeling  it 
a  weakness  in  himself.  1866.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  92. 

Where  he  is  imaginative,  it  is  in  that  lower  sense  which  the  pov- 
verty  of  our  language,  for  want  of  a  better  word,  compels  us 
to  call  picturesque.  1868.  ID.,  III.,  p.  170. 

A  mere  luxurious  dreaming,  where  the  beautiful  very  speedily  de- 
generates into  the  pretty  or  picturesque.  1874.  STEPHEN, 
Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  I,  p.  121. 

They  have  come  to  please  us  at  last  as  things  picturesque,  being 
set  in  relief  against  the  modes  of  our  different  age.      1878. 
PATER,  Ap.,  p.  117. 
Piquant :  Car.  to  present. 
Pithey  (XVI.)  :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

Much  in  use  in  early  criticism.  Pull  of  meaning; 
pointed  and  sententious. 

Sensibly,  pithily,  bitingly.     T.  NEWTON,  Spenser  Society,  XLIIL, 

p.  3.' 

Pithey  and  wise  sentences.    WEBBE,  p.  44. 
Pith  and  point.     LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  221. 
Compactly  and  pithily.     ID.,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  p.  1. 
Placid  (XIX.)  :  Hunt  to  present. 

Placid  and  decorous.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  57» 


230     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Plagiarism:  Jef.,  Poe. 

Plagiarist  or  imitator.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  245. 
PLAIN  (III.). 

The  term  "plain"  refers  chiefly  to  the  use  of  words 
and  of  mental  imagery  in  composition.  Until  about 
From  gram-  ^ne  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "  plain  " 
denoted  such  a  choice  and  arrangement  of 


words  as  to  make  evident  at  once  to  the 
reader  the  thought  intended.  No  distinction  was  per- 
haps drawn  by  the  critics  between  the  grammatical 
and  logical  means  for  the  attainment  of  this  purpose. 
The  imagination  was  considered  as  a  hindrance  to 
plainness,  producing  in  the  composition  a  false  glitter 
and  ornamentation  which  rendered  the  thought  difficult 
and  obscure. 

Easy  and  plain  composition.     T.  WILSON,  Rhct  ..,  p.  178. 

The  matter  is  good,  the  words  proper  and  plain;  yet  the  sense  is 

hard  and  dark.     1508.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  269. 
Plain  sense.     1586.     WEBBE,  p.  46. 
He  affects   plainness   to  cover  his  want  of  imagination.     1668. 

DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  288. 

Since  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
imagination  and  plainness  have  not  been  considered 
From  mental  as  necessarily  opposed  to  each  other.  Plain- 
d  ness  nas  indicated  an  unornamented  method 


of  statement,  obtained  chiefly  by  distinct- 
ness of  imagery  and  unsuperfluousness  of  language. 
During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
term  was  very  frequently  employed  in  opposition  to  the 
conventional  adornments  of  the  eighteenth-century  lit- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     231 

erature :  more  recently  the  term  has  been  used  chiefly 
in  connection  with  the  criticism  of  prose  literature. 

Plain,  blunt,   and   unartificial   style   of  so  rude   an  age.     1808. 

SCOTT,  Ed.  of  Dryden,  VIII.,  p.  1. 
Works  of  imagination  should  be  written  in  a  plain  language.     1830. 

COLERIDGE,  VI.,  p.  326. 

In  short,  the  merit  of  De  Foe's  narrative  bears  a  direct  proportion 
to  the  intrinsic  merit  of  a  plain  statement  of  the  facts.     STE- 
PHEN, Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  47. 
Plaintive  (XIV.) :  Bry.,  Swin. 
Platitude  (XII.)  :  Poe  to  present. 

Too  great  proportion   of  sentence  is  ...  an   encouragement  to 

sonorous  platitude.     SAINTSBURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxviii. 
Plausible  (VIII.)  :  Plausible  description  of  physical  wonders  ...  in 

Gulliver.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  213. 

Playful  (XVIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     In  considerable  use. 
Light  and  playful.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  471. 
Bichter's   satire  is  ...  playful  .  .  .  never    bitter,    scornful,    or 

malignant.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  271. 

Pleading  (XXII.)  b:  Pleading  tones.     WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  83. 
Pleasantry  (XVII.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

The  "  flash "  of  wit  turned  especially  toward  social 
life,  and  giving  to  incidents  and  customs  a  more  or  less 
ludicrous  appearance. 

A  gross  pleasantry  or  profane  witticism.  SCOTT,  Life  of  Dry  den, 
p.  61. 

The  humour,  and  in  general  the  pleasantry  of  our  nation  has  very 
frequently  a  sarcastic  and  even  misanthropic  character,  which 
distinguishes  it  from  the  mere  playfulness  and  constitutional 
gaiety  of  our  French  neighbors.  JEFFREY,  L,  p.  131. 

Voltaire's  wit  ...  is  at  all  times  mere  logical  pleasantry,  a  gaiety 

of  the  head,  not  of  the  heart.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  167. 
Plebeian  (V.)  :   Locke's  style  is  bald,  dull,  and  plebeian.     SAINTS- 
BURY,  Eng.  Pr.  St.,  p.  xxiv. 

Plentiful  (XVI.) :  Plautus  is  more  plentiful,  Terence  more  pure  and 
proper.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  247. 


232       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Pleonastic :  Jef.,  Poe. 
POETICAL  (XXII.)  b. 

Until  within  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
"  poetical,"  as  a  critical  term,  usually  possessed  a  sig- 
nificance which  was  quite  at  variance  with  the  general 
theoretical  conception  of  poetry.  In  theory,  poetry  was 
of  divine  inspiration. 

Poesy  in  his  perfection  cannot  grow  but  by  some  divine  inspira- 
tion; the  Platonics  call  it  furor.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  20. 

There  was  never  a  great  poet  without  a  larger  portion  of  the  divine 
inspiration.  B.  JONSON,  Timber,  p.  76. 

In  actual  criticism  the  poetical  usually  denoted  an 
AS  emotional  enthusiastic  and  fantastical  falsification  of 

falsification 

of  truth.  truth. 

To  elevate  the  style,  illustrate  the  subject  by  metaphor  and  epi- 
thets, guarding,  however,  against  what  savours  of  poetry.  ARIS- 
TOTLE, Rhet.,  p.  222. 

Poetry  is  the  language  of  enthusiasm.     ID.,  p.  226. 

Those  who  express  themselves  with  this  poetic  air,  produce  by 
their  want  of  taste  both  the  ridiculous  and  the  frigid.  ID., 
p.  216. 

Some  will  be  ...  so  fine,  so  poetical  .  .  .  that  everybody  else 
shall  think  them  meeter  for  a  lady's  chamber  than  for  an  earnest 
matter.  T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  176. 

Poetical  .  .  .  and  fantastical.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  34. 

Poetical  fancies  and  furies.     B.  JONSON,  I.,  p.  210. 

What  a  base  humour  is  this  in  you  poetical  needy  brains.  1641. 
In  J.  B.  Harleian  Miscellany,  IX.,  p.  201. 

Since  the  early  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  theory  of  the  "  poetical,"  and  the  actual  use  of  the 
term  in  criticism,  have  usually  been  in  close  agreement 
with  each  other.  Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  poetical  in  theory  was  the  variation  and 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     233 

ornamentation  of  truth  in  order  to  make  it  more  pleas- 
ing and  acceptable  to  the  reader.  The  fancy  produced 
the  variation;  reason  and  understanding  held  to  the 
truth,  and  furnished  for  the  poetical  activity  its  motive 
or  incentive,  —  the  desire  to  teach. 

Poetry  commonly  exceeds  the  measure  of  nature,  joining  at  pleas- 
ure things  which  in  nature  would  never  have  come  together. 
BACON,  IV.,  p.  292. 

Poesy  serveth  ...  to  magnanimity,  morality,  and  to  delectation. 
ID.,  Adv.  of  L.,  p.  30.  (Oxford,  1891.) 

Poetry  speaks  to  the  understanding;  painting  to  the  sense.  B. 
JONSON,  Timber,  p.  49. 

The  great  art  of  poets  is  either  the  adorning  and  beautifying  of 
truth,  or  the  inventing,  pleasing,  and  probable  fictions.  DIIY- 
DEN,  XV.,  p.  408. 

No  man  can  be  a  true  poet  who  writes  for  diversion  only.  These 
authors  should  be  considered  as  versifiers  and  witty  men  rather 
than  as  poets.  1710.  POPE,  VI.,  p.  116. 

With  such  a  theory  of  poetry,  the  u  poetical"  was 
little  used  as  a  critical  term.     When  it  was  As  an       _ 
thus   employed,   it   denoted   language   which  ScatioVof81" 
was  figurative,  ornamented,  and  elevated. 

The  diction  is  poetical.     1699.     DRYDEN,  XI.,  p.  239. 

Tully  and  Demosthenes  spoke  often  figuratively  but  not  poetically, 

and  the  very  figures  of  oratory  are  vastly  different  from  those  of 

poetry.    1726.     POPE,  VIII.,  p.  218. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  poetical,  both  in  theory  and  in  actual  criticism,  was 
closely  related  to  the  picturesque.      The  po- 
etical   was  whatever   in   literary   representa- 
tion  stirred  and  excited  the  emotions.     This  m*sau 
was  thought  more  likely  to  be  attained  by  particularity 


234     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

and  vi\ddness.  Poetry,  however,  was  considered  as  the 
product  of  an  imagination  which  faded  away  with  the 
growth  of  science  and  knowledge.  It  was  not  clearly 
defined  whether  the  ethical  significance  of  poetry  in- 
heres in  the  poetical  process  itself,  or  whether  it  con- 
sists in  a  didactic  purpose  foreign  to  the  nature  of  poetry 
as  such. 

Poetical,  that  is,  highly  figurative  expression.     1749.     KURD,  I., 

p.  102. 
Four  classes  of  poets  :  — 

1.  Sublime  and  Pathetic,  e.  g.,  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Milton. 

2.  True   poetic  genius   in   moderate   degree,  —  moral,   ethical, 

panegyrical  poets,  e.  g.,  Dryden,  Addisou,  Cowley. 

3.  Men  of  wit,  of  elegant  taste,  and  lively  fancy,  e.  g.,  Butler, 

Swift,  Donne. 

4.  Mere  versifiers,  e.  g.,  Pitt,  Sandys,  etc.     1756.     J.  WARTON, 

I.,  p.  vii. 
A  minute  and  particular  enumeration  of  circumstances,  judiciously 

selected,  is  what  chiefly  discriminates  poetry  from  history.     ID., 

p.  47. 
True  poetry,  after  all,  cannot  well  subsist,  at  least  is  never  so 

striking,  without  a  tincture  of  enthusiasm.     ID.,  p.  317. 
Words  are  divided  into  three  classes  :  — 

1.  Those  which  represent  many  simple  ideas  united  by  nature, 

e.  g.,  man,  sky,  etc. 

2.  Those  representing  one  of  such  simple  ideas,  e.  g.,  blue.  .  .  . 

3.  Those  representing  a  union  of  the  two  former  by  the  mind, 

e.  g.,  virtue,  magistrate,  etc. 

The  latter  class  call  up  no  definite  image  in  the  mind,  and  are 
the  especial  expression  of  the  emotions,  and  hence  of  po- 
etry.    1756.     BURKE,  I.,  p.  170. 
As  knowledge  and  learning  increase,  poetry  begins  to  deal  less  in 

imagination.     1778.    T.  WARTON,  Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  p.  310. 
One  of  the  great  sources  of  poetical  delight  is  ...  the  power  of 
presenting  pictures  to  the  mind.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII., 
p.  44. 
That  cannot  be  unpoetical  with  which  all  are  pleased.     ID.,  p.  129. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     235 

During  the  present  century  poetry  has  usually  been 
regarded  not  so  much  as  an  intuition  of  obscure  rela- 
tions which  afterward  develop  into  knowl-  AS  intensity  of 

,     .,  .  t.        impassioned 

edge,  and  thus  cease  to  be  poetry,  as  the  imagination, 
culmination  and  unification  of  knowledge  in  feeling 
which  always  tends  more  or  less  directly  toward  action. 
Ethics  and  the  poetical  process  thus  become  fundamen- 
tally associated  with  each  other.  Poetry,  facing  toward 
conduct  instead  of  toward  knowledge,  becomes  inti- 
mately related  with  passion,  and  not  with  the  reason 
or  understanding.  Imagination  gives  a  new  sense  of 
beauty ;  the  first  impulsive  wish  to  realize  this  is  poetic 
passion.  Together  imagination  and  passion  constitute 
what  in  the  present  century  has  generally  been  regarded 
as  the  poetical.  Since  the  rhythmical  qualities  of  po- 
etry have  come  to  be  referred  to  the  mind  for  expla- 
nation rather  than  to  the  mechanism  of  verse,  rhythm 
in  theory  has  often  been  included  as  an  integral  portion 
of  the  conception  of  the  poetical.  In  actual  criticism, 
however,  this  perhaps  does  not  hold  true  to  an  equal 
extent. 

As  the  sensible  world  is  inferior  in  dignity  to  the  rational  soul, 

Poesy  seems  to  bestow  on  human  nature  those  things  which 

history  denies  to  it.     BACON,  IV.,  p.  315. 
Poetry  is  the  impassioned  expression  which  is  in  the  countenance 

of  all  science.     1798.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  91. 
Poetry  is  the  spontaneous  overflow  of  powerful  feelings.    ID.,  p.  82. 
It  is  not  language  that  is  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word  poetical, 

being  neither  of  the  imagination  nor  of  the  passions.     1805.    ID., 

III.,  p.  253. 

Passion  the  all  in  all  in  poetry.     1808.     LAMB,  P.  P.  &  Es.,  p.  257. 
Impassioned  poetry  is  an  emanation  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 


236     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

part  of  our  nature  as  well  as  of  the  sensitive.     1818.     HAZLITT, 
Eng.  Poets,  p.  8. 

Poetry  ...  is  the  result  of  the  general  harmony  of  all  our  facul- 
ties. 1828.  CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  18. 

Humour  is  properly  the  exponent  of  low  things ;  that  which  first 
renders  them  poetical  to  the  mind.  ID.,  III.,  p.  97. 

Everything  is  poetry  which  is  not  mere  sensation.  We  are  poets 
at  all  times  when  our  minds  are  makers.  1832.  WILSON,  VI., 
p.  109. 

No  poetry  can  have  the  function  of  teaching.  .  .  .  Poetry,  or  any 
one  of  the  fine  arts  (all  of  which  alike  speak  through  the  genial 
nature  of  man  and  his  excited  sensibilities)  can  teach  only  as 
nature  teaches,  as  the  sea  teaches,  as  forests  teach,  as  infancy 
teaches,  viz.,  by  deep  impulse,  by  hieroglyphic  suggestion. 
1848.  DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  88. 

And  by  poetic  expression  I  do  not  mean  merely  a  vividness  in 
particulars,  but  the  right  feeling  which  heightens  or  subdues  a 
passage  or  a  whole  poem  to  the  proper  tone,  and  gives  entire- 
ness  to  the  effect.  1854.  LOWELL,  Lit.  Es.,  I.,  p.  245. 

The  essential  mark  of  poetry  is  that  it  betrays  in  every  word  instant 
activity  of  mind,  shown  in  new  uses  of  every  fact  and  image,  in 
preternatural  quickness  or  perception  of  relations.  1876.  EM- 
ERSON, Let.  &  Soc.  Aims,  p.  22. 

Genius  is  mainly  an  affair  of  energy,  and  poetry  is  mainly  an  affair 
of  genius.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  50. 

Poetry  at  all  times  exercises  two  distinct  functions :  it  may  reveal, 
it  may  unveil  to  every  eye,  the  ideal  aspects  of  common  things 
...  or  it  may  actually  add  to  the  number  of  motives  poetic 
and  uncommon  in  themselves,  by  the  imaginative  creation  of 
things  that  are  ideal  from  their  very  birth.  1886.  PATER,  Ap., 
p.  242. 
Poetic  Justice:  Rymer,  S.  John. 

Poetical  justice  requires  that  the  satisfaction  be  complete  and  full, 
ere  the  malefactor  goes  off  the  stage,  and  nothing  left  to  God 
Almighty  and  another  world.  RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  26. 

In  striking  contrast  to  Shakespeare  .  .  .  Middleton  has  no  kind  of 
poetic  morality  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  poetical  justice  is 
better  known.  SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  268. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     237 

Poetic  License:  This  poetical  license  is  a  shrewd  fellow,  and  coveretb 
many  faults  in  a  verse  ...  it  turiieth  all  things  at  pleasure. 
GASCOIGNE,  p.  37- 

Poignant  (XVII  ):  Dry.  to  present. 

Stimulating;  breezy  ;  more  or  less  amusing,  —  the  re- 
sult of  a  keen  sense  of  congruity  in  the  more  external 
and  transitory  relations  of  things,  combined  with  spright- 
liness  and  a  certain  amount  of  energy. 

Poignancy  and  propriety.     J.  WAIITON,  I.,  p.  330. 

Speak,  dead  Maria !  breathe  a  strain  divine.     (Pope.) 
This  is  ...  too   poignant  and  transitory.     WORDSWOIITH,  II., 

p.  63. 

His  wit  is  poignant  though  artificial.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writ- 
ers, p.  163. 
An  obsoleteness  of  language  which  gives  a  kind  of  poignancy. 

HALLAM,  Lit.  Hist.,  I.,  p.  35. 
Point  (V.):  Dry.  to  present. 

Point  and  antithesis.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  396. 
Love  of  conceit  and  point.     SCOTT,  Ed.  of  Dryden,  IX.,  p.  83. 
Poised  (II.) :  Ros.     Brooke,  Tennyson,  p.  114. 
Polished  (V.):  Whetstone  to  present. 

Refinement  considered  wholly  as  a  product,  and  as 
attained  by  means  of  conscious  effort,  by  careful  and 
repeated  revision. 

Polished  from  barbarousness.     WEBBE,  p.  18. 

Chaucer  is  a  rougb  diamond  and  must  be  polished  ere  he  shines. 

DRYDEN,  XI.,  p.  233. 
The  bigb  polish  of  French  poetry  is  all  that  keeps  out  decay. 

LOWELL,  III.,  p.  158. 
Polite  (V.):  Jef.  to  present. 

The  use  of  banter  never  disjoins  banter  itself  from  politeness,  from 

felicity.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  pp.  60-67. 
Pomp  (XIX.)  b:  Daniel  to  present. 

Wise  men  would  be  glad  to  find  a  little  sense  couched  under  all 

these  pompous  words.     DETDE.N,  VI.,  p.  280, 


238     A  HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Dryden  .  .  .  had  a  pomp  which  .  .  .  became  pompousness  in  his 

imitators.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  185. 
Ponderous  (XI.) :  Low.  to  present. 

Ponderosity  is  not  the  note  of  Greek  eloquence.     Yet  two  great 
poets  —  Pindar  and  jEschylus —  revealed  the  possibilities  of  a 
massive  Greek  style.     SYHONDS,  Es.,  Sp.  &  Sug.,  p.  194. 
Poor  (XII.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Tameness  and  poorness.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  167. 
Possibility  (VIII.):  Whetstone  to  J.  Warton. 

Always  associated  either  with  probability  or  with 
nature  considered  historically.  (See  "  Probability  "  and 
"Nature.") 

Ariosto's  adventures  are  without  the  compass  of  nature  and  possi- 
bility.    DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  15. 
Potent  (XII.) :  Ros.  to  present. 

Magical  potency.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  388. 

Pothery  (XV.)  :  Shakespeare's  sonnets  are  hot  and  pothery.     LAN- 
DOR,  IV.,  p.  512. 
Poverty  (XII.) :  Rymer,  Jef.  to  present. 

Baldness  and  poverty  of  language.     WIIIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II., 

p.  194. 
POWER  (XII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Much  in  use  in  the  present  century.  Sustained  force 
or  energy,  thought  of  as  inhering  for  the  most  part  in 
the  composition  itself,  rendering  it  effective  and  moving. 

The  Bible  is  not  the  poetry  of  form,  but  of  power.  1818.  HAZ- 
LITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  22. 

Space,  again,  what  is  it  in  most  men's  minds  ?  The  lifeless  form 
of  the  world  without  us ;  a  postulate  of  the  geometrician,  with 
no  more  vitality  or  real  existence  to  their  feelings  than  the 
square  root  of  two.  But  if  Milton  has  been  able  to  inform  this 
empty  theatre,  peopling  it  with  Titanic  shadows  ...  so  that 
from  being  a  thing  to  inscribe  witli  diagrams,  it  has  become 
under  his  hands  a  vital  agent  on  the  human  mind,  — I  presume 
that  I  may  justly  express  the  tendency  of  Paradise  Lost  by 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       239 

saying  tliat  it  communicates  power  ...  as  opposed  to  that 
which  communicates  knowledge.  DE  QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  49. 
Our  knowledge  of  power  comes  from  our  own  personality.  .  .  . 
Our  conception  of  power- cannot  be  explained  by  the  philosophy 
which  derives  all  knowledge  from  sensation  and  reflection. 
FLEMING,  Vocabulary  of  Philosophy,  pp.  316,  317. 

Preciosity:  Saints.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  12. 

Precision  (III.)  :  J.  War.  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

I.  Exact ;  clear  cut  in  outline  and   in  detail ;  refer- 
ring more  usually  to  the  mental  imagery,  occasionally 
to  the  language  and  logical  construction. 

Precise  ballance.     T.  NEWTON,  Spenser  Society,  XLIII.,  p.  2. 
Milton's  figures  have  all  the  elegance  and  precision  of  a  Greek 

statue.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  80. 
Sometimes  in  painting,  and  sometimes  in  poetry,  an  object  should 

not  be  quite  precise.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  444. 

II.  Occasionally  the  term  denotes  accuracy  to  fact. 

The  final  end  of  all  style  is  precision,  veracity  of  utterance,  truth 
to  the  thing  to  be  presented.     SYMONDS,  Es.,  Sp.  &  Sug.,  p.  242. 
Pregnant  (XVI.)  :  Camden  to  present. 

I.  In  early  criticism  the  term  indicated  certain  ca- 
pacities  of  the   author,  fertile  device  and  prolific  in- 
vention. 

Our  poets  ...  are  pregnant  both  in  witty  conceits  and  devices. 
CAMDEN,  p.  337. 

Peele's  pregnant  dexterity  of  wit  and  manifold  dexterity  of  inven- 
tion. 1589  NASH,  in  Literaria  Centuria,  II.,  p.  238. 

II.  In  the  present  century  the  term  denotes  an  allu- 
sive, suggestive,  and  perhaps  impassioned   method   of 
writing,  which  fully  calls  out  the  sympathies  and  in- 
terests of  the  reader,  stimulating  in  him  further  thought 
and  feeling. 


240      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

So  pregnant  with  feeling  and  reflection.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  395. 
Pregnant  with  important  truths.     ID.,  p.  366. 
The  style  is  what  was  called  pregnant,  leaving  much  to  be  filled 
up  by  the  reader's  reflection.     HALLAM,  Lit.  Hist.,  III.,  p.  378. 
Milton's  .  .  .  pregnant,    allusive   way.     M.   AIINOLD,   Gel.    Lit., 

p.  206. 
Preposterous  (XX.)  :  Jef.,  Gosse. 

Childish  and  preposterous.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  212. 
Pretentious  (XIX.)  b :  Ros.  to  present. 

Pretense,  an  inflation  of  mind,  and  overstrained  use  ...  of  tem- 
porary catch  words.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  390. 
Pretty  (V.):  Camden  to  present. 

The  term  denotes  a  highly  elaborated  form  of  ele- 
gance and  ornament ;  conceits  and  images  which  please 
by  their  constructive  ingenuity,  but  not  by  their  force 
of  meaning,  fitness,  or  literary  significance.  With  the 
suffix  "ness"  or  "ish,"  the  term  is  uniformly  employed 
in  an  unfavorable  sense;  with  the  suffix  "ly,"  in  a  fa- 
vorable sense.  The  term  "  pretty  "  represents  one  of 
the  very  lowest  qualities  of  literary  composition. 

Prettily  handled.     WEBBE,  p.  55. 

Crashaw's  thoughts  are  ...  pretty,  but  oftentimes   far-fetched. 
'  POPE,  VI.,  p.  117. 

Too  much  prettiness  and  too  modern  an  air.     J.  WAKTON,  I.,  p.  11. 
Walsh  .  .  .  seldom  rises  higher  than  to  be  pretty.     S.  JOHNSON, 

VII.,  p.  244. 

A  mere  luxurious  dreaming,  where  the  beautiful  very  speedily  de- 
generates into  the  pretty  or  picturesque.     STEPHEN,  I.,  p.  121. 
Prim  (IV.):  Whip.,  Gosse. 

A  prim  grace  of  construction.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  265. 
Prismatic :  His  style  is  prismatic.      It  unfolds  the  colours  of  the 

rainbow.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  233. 
PROBABILITY  (VIII.) . 

The  critics  have  often  distinguished  in  theory  be- 
tween particular  and  general  probability.  Particular 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       241 

probability  refers  to  single  detached  events,  and  is  to 
be  determined  by  observation  and  the  laws  of  evidence. 
General  probability  is  the  determination  of  AS  general 

,,.«.,,  r  .  correspondence 

beliel  in  the  actual  occurrence  or  any  event  to  past  events, 
from  its  general  correspondence  to  other  events  which 
are  well  known.  In  actual  criticism,  particular  prob- 
ability does  not  perhaps  occur.  Until  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  term  uniformly  indicated 
general  probability,  —  a  similarity  to  the  usual  course  of 
historical  events. 

It  belongs  to  the  same  faculty  of  the  mind  to  recognize  both  truth 
and  the  semblance  of  truth ;  and  further  mankind  have  a  con- 
siderable aptitude  toward  what  is  true ;  wherefore  an  aptness  in 
conjecturing  probabilities  belongs  to  him  who  has  a  similar  apt- 
ness in  regard  to  truth.  ATIISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  p.  7. 

Poetry  treats  more  *of  the  general,  history  of  the  particular.  The 
general  tells  us  what  might  occur  according  to  probability.  ID., 
Poetics,  p.  29. 

A  play  is  still  an  imitation  of  nature ;  we  know  we  are  to  be  de- 

«  ceived,  and  we  desire  to  be  so ;  but  no  man  ever  was  deceived 

but  with  a  probability  of  truth.     1668.     DRYDEN,  XV.,  p.  360. 

Many  things  are  probable  of  particular  men,  because  they  are  true, 
which  cannot  be  generally  probable;  and  he  that  would  be 
feigning  persons  should  confine  his  fancy  to  general  probability. 
RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  17. 

Poetry  .  .  .  should  be  probable  .  .  .  upon  certain  suppositions. 
S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  128. 

Since  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
it  has  usually  been  recognized  that  a  close  historical 
probability  is  not  to  be  required  in  literary  AS  general 

consistency 

representation.      The   series   of    events   por-  of  plot, 
trayed  must  perhaps  be  capable  of  being  conceived  of 
as  possible  occurrences.     Probability  represents  the  his- 

16 


242       A    HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

torical  sense  of  what  has  been,  as  acting  within  the 
limits  of  the  aesthetic  sense  of  what  is  and  ought  to 
be.  The  only  essential  for  this  literary  or  "  dramatic  " 
probability  is  a  certain  dream-like  consistency  of  plot 
construction. 

There  are  degrees  of  probability  proper  even  to  the  wildest  fiction. 

1814.     SCOTT,  Life  of  Swift,  p.  315. 

In  dramatic  probability  .  .  .  the  poet  does  not  require  us  to  be 
awake  and  believe ;  he  solicits  us  only  to  yield  ourselves  to  a 
dream.     1817.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  564. 
Ben  Jonson's  plots  are  improbable  by  an  excess  of  consistency. 

1819.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers,  p.  51. 
The  modern  mind,  so  minutely  self-scrutinizing,  if  it  is  to  be  af- 
fected at  all  by  a  sense  of  the  supernatural,  needs  to  be  more 
finely  touched  than  was  possible  in  the  older  romantic  presen- 
tation of  it.  The  spectral  object,  so  crude,  so  impossible,  has 
become  plausible  as 

The  blot  upon  the  brain," 
That  will  show  itself  without, 

and  is  understood  to  be  but  a  condition  of  one's  own  mind. 
1865.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  99. 
Profound  (XIII.)  6  :  Swift  to  present. 

Moral  profundity.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  111. 
Profusion  (XIX.)  b:  Cole,  to  present. 

Profusion  of  interesting  detail.     BAGETIOT,  Lit.  St.,  I.,  p.  120. 
Progression  (XVIII.) :  Want  of  progression,  so  that  he  cannot  in- 
duce the  story  to  move  on  at  all.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 
p.  129. 
Prolix  (XIX.)  I :  Gas.  to  present. 

A  man  may  become  prolix  from  the  fulness  or  fervency  of  his 
mind ;  but  prolixity  produced  by  this  finical  minuteness  of  lan- 
guage ends  by  distressing  one's  nerves.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a 
Lib.,  I.,  p.  365. 
PROPER  (IV.). 

During  the  first  century  and  a  half  of  English  criti- 
cism,   the    term   "  proper "    was    occasionally    used    to 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       243 

denote  merely  propriety  of  words.  This  technical  use 
of  the  term  is  derived,  from  ancient  rhetoric  and  criti- 
cism, yet  its  meaning  was  not  so  definite  as  ^  propriety 
it  was  in  the  ancient  theory  of  the  term.  It  of  words- 
tended  in  English  criticism  to  become  more  inclusive, 
to  indicate  a  correct  use  not  so  much  of  separate  words 
as  of  language  in  general. 

Words  are :  — 

1.  Proper,  —  fixed  to  things. 

2.  Metaphorical,  —  in  places  foreign  to  them. 

3.  Invented,  —  by  ourselves.     CICERO,  Orators,  p.  375. 
Words  are  proper  when  they  signify  that  to  which  they  first  ap- 
plied ;  metaphorical  when  they  have  one  signification  by  nature, 
and  another  in  the  place  in  which  they  are  used.     QUINTILIAN, 
L,  p.  53. 

Proper  and  apt  words.     1568.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  211. 

For  word  and  speech,  Plautus  is  more  plentiful,  Terence  more 
pure  and  proper.  ID.,  p.  247. 

Their  terms  proper,  their  meter  sweet.  1585.  PUTTENHAM, 
p.  76. 

Scholastic  terms,  yet  very  proper.     ID.,  p.  159. 

Improper  words  .  .  .  antiquated  by  custom  .  .  .  incorrect  Eng- 
lish. 1670.  DRYDEN,  IV.,  p.  228. 

Even  in  early  English  criticism,  however,  "proper" 
was  often    employed    as    a   synonym   for   "  propriety." 
Since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth   cen-  Aspropriety 
tury,  this  has  been  the  universal  use  of  the  **  general- 
term. 

Proper  for  the  subject.     1585.     K.  JAMES,  p.  64. 

Proper  to  poets.     1586.     WEBBE,  p.  57. 

Nothing  is   truly  sublime  that  is   not  just  and  proper.     1681. 

DRYDEN,  VI.,  p.  407. 
Prophetic  (XVI.):  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  17. 


244      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

PROPORTION  (II.). 

Previous  to  the  present  century,  the  term  "  propor- 
tion"  drew  its  meaning  chiefly  from  external  nature 

As  external  ail(^  from  moral  conduct.  It  signified  a  gen- 
symmetry.  eraj  iiarmony  anc[  adaptation  of  the  parts  of 

a  composition  to  one  another,  of  the  thoughts  expressed, 
and  of  the  language  employed  in  its  expression.  This 
harmony  and  adaptation  was  sometimes  said  to  be  de- 
termined, in  part  at  least,  by  "  nature  "  regarded  as  an 
activity  of  the  mind ;  but  as  employed  in  actual  criti- 
cism, proportion  was  not  so  changeable  a  quantity  as 
this  dependence  upon  internal  nature  would  cause  it  to 
be.  Proportion  was  almost  exclusively  determined  by 
applying  to  the  literary  work  under  discussion  precepts, 
methods,  and  principles,  derived  from  preceding  liter- 
ature, especially  from  the  masterpieces  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  Proportion,  thus  externally  considered,  tended 
to  become  mechanical  and  conventional,  and  to  oppose 
all  growth  and  development  in  the  form  of  literary 
expression. 

Metaphors  must  be  constructed  on  principles  of  analogy  (propor- 
tion), else  they  will  be  sure  to  appear  in  bad  taste.  ARISTOTLE, 
Rhet.,  p.  210. 

The  world  is  made  by  symmetry  and  proportion,  and  is  in  that 
respect  compared  to  music,  and  music  to  poetry.  CAMPION, 
p.  231. 

Lydgate,  noted  for  good  proportion  of  his  verse.     WEBBE,  p.  32. 

This  lovely  conformity  or  proportion  or  convenience  between  the 
sense  and  the  sensible  hath  nature  herself  most  carefully  ob- 
served in  all  her  own  works,  then  also  by  kind  graft  it  in  the 
appetites  of  every  creature.  1585.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  269. 

Of  the  indecencies  of  an  heroic  poem,  the  most  remarkable  are 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       245 

those  that  show  disproportion  either  between  the  persons  and 

their  actions,  or  between  the  manners  of  the  poet  and  the  poem. 

1650.     HOBBES,  IV.,  p.  454. 
Knavery  is  mere  dissonance  and  disproportion.     SHAFTESBURY,  L, 

p.  164. 
Harmony  .  .  .  symmetry  and  proportion  are  founded  in  nature, 

let  men's  fancy  prove  ever  so  barbarous,  or  their  fashions  ever 

so  Gothic  in  their  architecture,   sculpture,   or  whatever  other 

designing  art.     ID.,  p.  276. 
All  disproportion  is  unnatural.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  156. 

During  the  present  century  the  term  "  proportion " 
has  occupied  a  much  more  subordinate  position  in  criti- 
cism than  formerly.  But  during  the  latter  As  a  sense  ^ 
half  of  the  century  it  has  received  some  little  harmony- 
notice  when  given  a  psychological  explanation.  Pro- 
portion, considered  as  an  inner  sense,  can  never  be 
said  at  any  given  time  to  have  fully  manifested  itself 
in  literature.  Each  literary  work  is  in  a  manner  a  law 
unto  itself.  The  term  becomes  more  elastic  and  more 
capable  of  being  adapted  to  the  constant  change  of 
form  and  method  of  expression  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  development  of  literature. 

Proportion  is  a  principle,  not  of  architecture,  but  of  existence  .  .  . 
and  in  the  fine  arts  it  is  impossible  to  move  a  single  step,  or  to 
execute  the  smallest  and  simplest  piece  of  work,  without  involv- 
ing all  those  laws  of  proportion  in  their  full  complexity.  1853. 
RUSKIN,  Lee.  on  Art  and  Painting,  p.  110. 

Heine  himself  .  .  .  seems  to  me  wanting  in  a  refined  perception  of 
that  inward  propriety,  which  is  only  another  name  for  poetic 
proportion.  1866.  LOWELL,  II.,  p.  170. 

Possessing  a  sense  of  proportion  based  upon  the  highest  analytic 
and  synthetic  powers,  —  a  faculty  that  can  harmonize  the  incon- 
gruous thoughts,  scenes,  and  general  details  of  a  composite 
period.  1875.  STEDMA.N,  Viet.  Poets,  p.  199. 


.   246       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

As  a  literary  critic,  Carlyle  was  sometimes  perverse;   lie  missed 
proportions;  now  and  then  he  would  resolutely  invert  things, 
and  hold  them  up  to  mockery  in  grotesque  disarray.     1887. 
DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  183. 
PROPRIETY  (IV.). 

Propriety  denotes  a  general  harmony  among  all  the 
elements  that  enter  into  the  composition  of  a  work  of 
literature.  In  so  far  as  any  harmony  is  capable  of 
being  determined  analytically,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
for  the  different  elements  entering  into  it  a  common 
basis,  a  common  unit,  so  to  speak,  by  a  reference  to 
which  they  are  given  their  relative  values.  As  pro- 
priety has  been  employed  in  actual  criticism,  this  com- 
mon basis  of  reference  is  scarcely  ever  given.  Yet 
according  to  the  variation  in  this  basis  of  reference,  — 
usually  to  be  ascertained  by  inference,  —  the  changes 
of  meaning  in  the  term  "  propriety  "  have  taken  place. 
The  history  of  the  term  may  be  divided  into  four 
periods. 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
propriety  represented  the  influence  in  literature  of  an 
AS  an  instinc-  mstinct  developed  by  culture,  an  instinct 
ityeto°weum"  for  regularity  and  probability,  derived  from 
principles,  and  the  past,  for  temperance  in  statement  and 

to  "nature." 

consistency,  which  spring  largely  from  a 
sense  of  accuracy  to  present  fact,  and,  perhaps,  to  a 
slight  extent,  for  harmony  and  beauty,  which  may 
refer  to  the  future.  But  the  term  usually  indicated  a 
conformity  to  well  established  principles  in  the  liter- 
ature of  the  past.  From  the  study  of  this  literature 
there  was  developed  a  cultured  instinct  by  the  activity 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

]F© 
A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       247 

of  which  propriety  was  determined,  in  so  far  as  pro- 
priety was  synthetic,  an  immediate  sense  or  feeling. 
Occasionally,  however,  the  propriety  or  fitness  of  the 
literary  elements  was  determined  in  a  more  or  less 
analytic  manner.  There  is  found  mentioned  a  pro- 
priety or  fitness  of  language,  of  phrase,  of  sounds, 
of  names  of  characters,  of  versification,  of  figures  of 
speech,  of  fictions,  of  sentiments,  of  characters,  of  the 
nature  of  the  composition  itself,  —  all  instances  in  which 
but  one  of  the  three  factors  necessary  for  the  analytic 
determination  of  propriety  is  found  within  the  compo- 
sition that  is  being  criticised.  The  other  factors  are 
to  be  derived  by  inference  from  the  principles  of  earlier 
literature.  The  term  "  propriety "  was  in  very  great 
use  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
representing  more  than  any  other  expression  the  con- 
servative methods  of  criticism  then  dominant. 

Propriety  consists  neither  in  rapidity  or  conciseness,  but  in  a  mean 
betwixt  both.  ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  p.  248. 

As  to  propriety,  no  direction  seems  possible  to  be  given  but  this, 
that  we  adopt  a  character  of  style  fuller,  plainer,  or  middling, 
suited  to  the  subject  on  which  we  are  to  speak.  ...  To  know 
what  is  becoming  is  an  affair  of  judgment,  to  be  able  to  do  the 
becoming  is  the  part  of  art  and  of  nature.  CICERO,  Orators, 
p.  395. 

By  displacing  no  word  .  .  .  the  verse  ...  be  wrested  against  his 
natural  propriety.  1586.  WEBBE,  p.  63. 

To  the  propriety  of  expression  I  refer  that  clearness  of  memory  by 
which  a  poet  when  he  hath  once  introduced  any  person  whatso- 
ever, speaking  in  his  poem,  maintaineth  in  him  to  the  end  the 
same  character  he  gave  him  in  the  beginning.  1650.  HOBBES, 
IV.,  p.  454. 

Tragedy  ...  is   an  imitation  of  one  entire,  great,  and  probable 


248       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL   TERMS. 

action;  not  told,  but  represented;  which,  by  moving  in  us  fear 
and  pity,  is  conducive  to  the  purging  of  those  two  passions  in 
our  minds  :  ...  or  tragedy  describes  or  paints  an  action,  which 
action  must  have  all  the  proprieties  above  named.  1679. 
DRYDEN,  VI.,  p.  260. 

Propriety  of  thought  is  that  fancy  which  arises  naturally  from  the 
subject,  or  which  the  poet  adapts  to  it;  propriety  of  words  is 
the  clothing  of  those  thoughts  witli  such  expressions  as  are  nat- 
urally proper  to  them.  1685.  ID.,  VII.,  p.  228. 

A  mixture  of  British  and  Grecian  ideas  may  justly  be  deemed  a 
blemish  in  the  Pastorals  of  Pope;  and  propriety  is  certainly 
violated  when  he  couples  Pactolus  with  Thames,  and  Windsor 
with  Hybla.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  4. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
terms  "  propriety  "  and  "  beauty  "  were  often  used  to- 
AS  an  instinc  Se^ier-  Propriety  indicated  a  conformity  of 
°f  ^he  different  parts  of  a  composition  with  one 
another,  or  with  the  nature  of  the  compo- 


sition itself,  the  conformity  to  be  determined 
primarily  by  the  sense  of  beauty  within  the  mind  ;  but 
also  in  part  from  well  known  images,  customs,  and 
principles  derived  from  literature  and  experience. 

With  what  wildness  of  imagination,  but  yet  with  what  propriety 
are  the  amusements  of  the  fairies  pointed  out  in  the  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream  ;  amusements  proper  for  none  but  fairies.  1756. 
J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  223. 

It  has  been  the  lot  of  many  great  names  not  to  have  been  able  to 
express  themselves  with  beauty  and  propriety  in  the  fetters  of 
verse.  ID.,  |>p.  265,  266. 

In  a  work  of  so  serious  and  severe  a  cast,  strokes  of  levity,  how- 
ever poignant  and  witty,  are  ill-placed  and  disgusting,  are  viola- 
tions of  that  propriety  which  Pope  in  general  so  strictly  observes. 
ID.,  III.,  p.  112. 

What  is  false  taste  but  a  want  of  perception  to  discern  propriety 
and  distinguish  beauty.  1761.  GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  324, 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       249 

Even  in  describing  fantastic  beings,  there  is  a  propriety  to  be  ob- 
served, but  surely  nothing  can  be  more  revolting  to  common 
sense  than  this  numbering  of  the  moonbeams  among  the  other 
implements  of  Queen  Mab's  harness.  1762.  ID.,  p.  381. 

Pope  had  an  intuitive  perception  of  consonance  and  propriety. 
1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  320. 

During    the    first   half   of    the   present    century   the 
term  fell  wholly  into  disfavor.      It  represented  a  con- 
formity   to   customs   and   principles,    merely  ^  conven_ 
because   those   customs  and   principles  were  t 
old  and  well  established.     It  denoted  a  total  want  of 
originality  and  native  power. 

One  would  not  surely  be  frightful  when  one  's  dead ; 

And  Betty,  give  this  cheek  a  little  red.     (Dying  words  of  Nar- 

cissa.     Pope.) 

Was  that  right,  to  provide  for  coquetting  in  her  coffin?  Why, 
no,  not  strictly  right;  its  impropriety  cannot  be  denied,  etc. 
1848.  DE  QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  76. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
term  has  not  been  very  much  in  use.  It  has  had, 
however,  three  different  meanings.  The  As"extrin- 

...  sic  "  har- 

endeavor  has  been  made  to  distinguish  be-  mony. 
tween  an  extrinsic  and  an  intrinsic  propriety.     Extrin- 
sic propriety  has  to  do  with  the  externals  of  literature, 
those  things  which  may  be  derived  from  precept  and 
custom,  and  may  be  reduced  to  rule  and  method. 

The  first  demand  we  make  upon  whatever  claims  to  be  a  work  of 
art  ...  is  that  it  shall  be  in  keeping.  Now  this  propriety  is 
of  two  kinds,  either  extrinsic  or  intrinsic.  .  .  .  Extrinsic  pro- 
priety relates  rather  to  the  body  than  the  soul  of  the  work,  such 
as  fidelity  to  the  facts  of  history  .  .  .  congruity  of  costume  and 
the  like.  1868,  LOWELL,  III.,  p.  69, 


250       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  literary  artist  is  of  necessity  a  scholar.  .  .  .  His  punctilious 
observance  of  the  proprieties  of  his  medium  will  diffuse  through 
all  he  writes  a  general  air  of  sensibility,  of  refined  usage.  1888. 
PATER,  Ap.,  pp.  8,  9. 

Intrinsic  propriety,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  said 
to  represent  the  growing  sense  of  beauty,  which,  how- 
AS  "intrin-  ever,  takes  into  account  more  than  usual  the 

sic  "  har- 
mony, results    of    past    achievement,   which    finds 

more  pleasure  than   the   ordinary  sense  of   beauty   in 
regularity  and  method. 

Intrinsic  propriety  consists  of  three  elements :  — 

1.  Co-ordination  of  character. 

2.  Consistency. 

3.  Propriety  of  costume  ...  to  satisfy  the  superhistoric  sense. 
All  these  come  within  the  scope  of  imaginative  truth.     LOWELL, 
III.,  p.  69. 

Throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  term,  and  es- 
pecially of  late,  it  has  occasionally  been  employed  to 
/s  moral  indicate  a  conformity  in  literary  represen- 
decorum.  tatioii  to  the  moral  sense  of  decency  and 
decorum. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  novel  is  really  not  so  prudish  after  all.  .  .  . 

Sometimes  a  novel  which  has  this  shuffling  air,  this  effect  of 

truckling  to  propriety,  etc.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  148. 

The  propriety  of  the  morals,  the   congruity  of  the   sentiments. 

1882.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  531. 
Prosaic  (XXII.)  b  :  Bentley  to  present. 

Prosaic  accuracy  of  detail.     STEPHEN,  I.,  p.  57. 
Prosing :  Jef.  to  present. 

Mystical  and  prosing.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  284. 
Provincial  (I.)  :  Gold,  to  present. 

The  provincial  spirit  exaggerates  the  value  of  its  ideas  for  want  of 
a  high  standard  at  hand  by  which  to  try  them.  M.  ARNOLD, 
Cr.  Es.3  1st  8.,  p.  66, 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.        251 

Prudish :  The  Anglo-Saxon  novel  is  really  not  so  prudish  after  all. 

HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  148. 

Prurient  (XY.)  :  Effeminate  or  prurient.     SWINBUHNE,  Mis.,  p.  230. 
Puerile  (XII.)  :  Mil.  to  present. 

By  puerility  we  mean  a  pedantic  habit  of  mind  which  by  over- 
elaboration  ends  in  frigidity.     LONGINUS,  p.  6. 
The  circumstance  in  this  line  is  puerile  and  little :  — 
And  little  eagles  wave  their  wings  in  gold. 

J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  202. 
Puerism  (I.):  Lessing's  style  is  pure  without  puerism.     CAIILYLE, 

I.,  p.  40. 

Puling:  Puling  classical  affectation.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  248. 
Pungent  (XX.)  b:  Scott  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Puny;  Puny  affectation,     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  175. 
PURITY  (I.). 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century 
purity  of  language  usually  indicated  a  scholastic  re- 
finement of  the  popular  idiom.  Whenever  ^  refi]ied 
English  critics  referred  to  Latin  and  Greek  Iangua8:e- 
authors,  purity,  perhaps,  signified  merely  a  choice  of 
specific  and  appropriate  expressions,  and  their  arrange- 
ment according  to .  the  rules  of  composition ;  but  when- 
ever English  literature  was  the  subject  of  criticism, 
purity  denoted  further  a  selection  and  arrangement  of 
words  and  phrases  in  conformity  with  the  literary 
principles  of  the  ancient  masterpieces. 

Purity  .  .  .  the  foundation  of  all  style  .  .  .  consists  of  five  things : 

1.  Connective  particles. 

2.  Particular  terms  (as  against  Generalities). 

3.  Clearness  (avoiding  ambiguities). 

4.  Correct  genders  of  nouns. 

5.  Correct  numbers  of  words.     ARISTOTLE,  Rhet.,  pp.  219-222. 
Pureness  of  phrase  .  .  .  and  propriety  of  words  ...  in  Terence. 

ASCHAM,  p.  144  (Arber). 


252       A  HISTORY  OF  'ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

For  word  and  speech,  Plautus  is  more  plentiful,  Terence  more 
pure  and  proper.  ID.,  III.,  p.  247. 

As  simplicity  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  Pastoral,  Vir- 
gil hath  been  thought  guilty  of  too  courtly  a  style ;  his  language 
is  perfectly  pure,  and  he  often  forgets  he  is  among  peasants. 
1713.  POPE,  X.,  p.  508. 

Surrey,  for  his  justness  of  thought,  correctness  of  style,  and  purity 
of  expression,  may  justly  be  pronounced  the  first  English  clas- 
sical poet.  1778.  T.  WARTON,  Hist.  Eng.  Poetry,  p.  645. 

During  the  present  century  two  other  uses  of  the 
term  are  to  be  noted.  Purity  often  designates  the 
AS  idiomatic  well-established  native  idiom  of  the  lan- 
language.  guage,  as  opposed  to  innovations  of  all  kinds, 
whether  scholastic,  foreign,  or  popular  in  their  origin, 
whether  referring  to  the  selection  of  words  alone,  or 
to  the  phraseology  also. 

Spenser's   language   is   less   pure  and  idiomatic  than  Chaucer's. 

1818.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  56. 
There  is  nothing  so  unclassical,  nothing  so  impure  in  style,   as 

pedantry.     1864.     BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  II.,  p.  360. 

During  the  present  century,  however,  purity  has  usu- 
ally referred  not  to  language  directly,  but  to  thought 
AS  moral  au(^  conduct.  The  word  "  purity  "  has  been 
uprightness.  appr0priated  to  express  the  rising  sense  of 
morals  in  literature.  Purity  of  language  has  received 
less  attention  in  criticism  during  this  century  than 
formerly,  and  is  usually  expressed  by  less  ambiguous 
terms  than  "  purity." 

A  lyrical  purity  and  passion.     1887.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  167. 

Milton's  power  of  style  has  for  its  great  character  elevation ;  and 
Milton's  elevation  clearly  comes  in  the  main  from  a  moral  quality 
in  him,  —  his  pureness.  M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Es.,  p.  202. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.        253 

Puzzling  (III.) :   Startling,  unclassical,  and  puzzling.     JEFFREY,  1., 

p.  266. 
QUAINT  (IX.)  :  Camden  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

I.  Until  within  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present 
century,  "quaintness"  usually  represented  an  obscure 
and  antiquated  oddity,  the  result  of  affectation  and  a 
lack  of  originality. 

There  are,  my  friend,  whose  philosophic  eyes 
Look  through  and  trust  the  Ruler  with  his  skies. 

This  is  ...  quaint  and  obscure.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  327. 

Tricks,  quaintnesses,  hieroglyphics,  and  enigmas.     WORDSWORTH, 
II.,  p.  103. 

Quaint  and  prosaic.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  348. 

Quaint  low  humour.     HAZLITT,  El.  Lit.,  p.  24. 

Quaintness,  coldness,  and  conceit.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  362. 

II.  Since  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present  cen- 
tury,  and   occasionally   throughout   its    entire   history, 
quaintness  has  usually  represented  a  mystical  and  re- 
mote   oddness,   primitive   simplicity,  and   naivete*,  em- 
bodied in  more  or  less  primitive  methods  of  expression. 

A  quaintness  .  .  .  something  poetical.     BENTLEY,  I.,  p.  266. 
Quaintness  merging  into  grotesqueness.     M.  ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit., 

p.  175. 
A  touch  of  naivete,  of  old-world  quaintness.     ROBERTSON,  Es., 

etc.,  p.  3. 

Questionable  (VIII.):  Jeffrey,  III.,  p.  102. 
Quibbling  (XI.)  :  Shaftes.  to  present. 

All  humour  had  something  of  the  quibble.     The  very  language  of 

the  court  was  punning.     SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  48. 
Quick  (XII.)  :  Camden  to  present. 

Quick  with  bright  spontaneous  feeling.      DOWDEN,   Shak.,  etc., 

p.  333. 

Quiet  (XIX)  a:  Swin.,  Sted.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  97. 
Racy  (XII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 


254       A   HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  idiomatic  and  unconventional  in  expression ;  the 
native,  sincere,  and  direct  in  thought ;  strength  of  local 
coloring,  at  the  expense,  perhaps,  of  artistic  refinement. 

Racy  humour.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  214. 

Strength  of  contrast,  a  raciuess  and  a  glow.     LAMB,  P.  P.  &  Es., 

p.  261. 

Vigorous,  rough  and  racy  lines.     WILSON,  II.,  p.  285. 
A  spirit  and  raciness  very  unlike  these  frigid  conceits.     HALLAM, 

III,  p.  257. 
Racy  words:  bam,  kick,  whop,  twaddle,  fudge,  hitch,  etc.     M. 

ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit.,  p.  69. 

Metaphors  and  similes  are  racy  of  the  soil  in  which  they  grow,  as 
you  taste,  it  is  said,  the  lava  in  the  vines  on  the  slopes  of  ^Etna. 
MATHEWS,  Lit.  St.,  p.  15. 
Radiant:  Low.  to  present. 

Radiant  verses.     LOWELL,  Prose,  IV.,  p.  313. 
Raillery  (XVII.):  Dry.  to  present. 

The  raillery  is  carried  to  the  verge  of  railing,  some  will  say  ribaldry. 

J.  WARTON,  II,  p.  250. 
Rambling  (XVIII.)  :  Wil.  to  present. 

Desultory  and  rambling.     WILSON,  VI,  p.  238. 
Rancid  (XIV.):  Stale  and  rancid.     SWINBURNE,  Mis,  p.  111. 
Rancour  (XIV.):  Saints,  Gosse.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eiig.  Lit,  II, 

p.  232. 

Range  (XIII.)  6:  Swin,  Beers. 
Rant  (XIX.)  b  :  Collier  to  present. 

Gasping,  ranting,  wheezing,  broken- winded  verse.      SWINBURNE, 

Mis,  p.  76. 
RAPID  (XVIII). 

The  terra  "rapid"  began  to  become  prominent  in 
criticism  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  its  use  has  been  constantly  upon  the  increase  to 
the  present  time.  There  has  been  some  little  variation 
as  to  the  portion  of  the  composition  designated  by  the 
term,  but  there  has  perhaps  been  no  change  in  its 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       255 

meaning.  The  term  represents  an  intensity  of  mental 
interest,  and  a  constant  development  in  the  elements 
which  go  to  make  up  that  interest, —  a  swift  sequence 
of  sounds  and  rhythms,  of  thoughts,  of  mental  images, 
and  of  the  incidents  of  plot  construction.  Ease  in  a 
composition  is  in  a  sense  a  prerequisite  for  rapidity. 
Rapidity  is  attained  only  by  means  of  great  energy 
and  animation.  Hence  the  term  tends  to  characterize 
those  features  of  a  composition  which  most  excite  one's 
sympathy  and  interest, —  to  the  mental  imagery  and  to 
the  development  of  the  plot.  It  occasionally,  however, 
refers  to  the  literary  work  as  a  whole. 

Rapid  and  approach  nearer  to  conversation.     1756.     J.  WARTON, 

II.,  p.  356. 
Dryden  is  sometimes  vehement  and  rapid.     S.  JOHNSON,  VIII., 

p.  324. 
Clarendon's   narration  is   not,   perhaps,  sufficiently   rapid,  being 

stopped  too  frequently  by  particularities.      1751.      ID.,  III., 

p.  83. 

Animation,  fire,  and  rapidity.     BLAIR,  Rhet.,  p.  4-0. 
Demosthenes  has  a  rapid  harmony,  exactly  adjusted  to  the  sense. 

1742.    D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  170. 

The  rapidity,  and  yet  the  perspicuity  of  the  thoughts.     J.  WAR- 
TON,  II.,  p.  20. 
Of  all  Shakespeare's  plays,  Macbeth  is  the  most  rapid,  Hamlet  the 

slowest,  in  movement.     1810.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  133. 
In  variety  and  rapidity  of  movement,  the  Alexander's  Feast  has  all 

that  can  be  required  in  this  respect.     1818.     HAZLITT,  Eng. 

Poets,  p.  108. 

Rapture  (XV.)  :  Low.  to  present.     Rossetti,  Lives,  p.  57. 
Rash  (XII.)  :  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  375. 
Rational  (XX.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Simplicity  and  rationality  ...  of  Voltaire.      M.   ARNOLD,   Cel. 

Lit.,  p.  164. 
Pope  was  a  ...  rationalist  and  formalist.     T.  ARNOLD,  p.  418. 


256       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Rattling  (X.):    Rattling  verses  ...  of  Hudibras.       GOSSE,   Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  p.  27. 
Raving  (XV.)  :    Raving  style   admired   in   Germany.     JEFFREY,   I., 

p.  289. 

Raw:  Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  257, 
Reach  (XIII.)  b:  Low.  to  present. 

Less  depth  and  reach  and  force.     SWINBURNE',  Es.  &  St.,  p.  100. 
Readable  (XXII.)  a  :  Swin.,  Gosse. 

1.  Somewhat  interesting. 
GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  179. 

2.  Not  morally  offensive  and  disgusting. 

No  longer  readable  comedies  of  Mariage  a  la  Mode.     GOSSE,  Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  III.,  p.  43. 
REALITY  (VIII.). 

The  term  "reality"  began  to  be  employed  in  criti- 
cism during  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 

AS  the  fun-     ^urJ?  an(^  ^s  use  ^as  ^een  constantly  upon 
1  of     the  increase  until  the  present  time.     "Real- 


ity," primarily  a  philosophical  term,  denotes 
in  general  the  external  world  of  appearances,  or  what- 
ever seems  to  be  such,  or  whatever  fully  explains  these 
appearances.  Three  different  meanings  have  been  given 
to  the  term.  In  the  first  portion  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, occasionally  later,  reality  indicated  the  essential 
reason  or  principle,  which  underlies  appearances,  that 
which  renders  their  existence  possible,  and  gives  to 
them  unity  and  significance. 

Truth  is  correlate  to  being.     Knowledge  without  a  correspondent 

reality  is  no  knowledge.     1817.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  342. 
Poetry  must  dwell  in  reality,  and  become  manifest  to  men  in  the 

forms  among  which  they  live  and  move.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  56. 
We  create  nine-tenths  at  least  of  what  appears  to  exist  externally  ; 
and  such  is  somewhere  about  the  proportion  between  reality  and 
imagination.     1S32.     WILSON,  VI.,  p.  109. 


A  HISTORY  OP  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      257 

Literature  is  the  record  of  man's  attempt  to  make  actual  to  thought 
a  life  approaching  nearer  to  reality  than  the  boasted  actual  life  of 
the  world.  ...  If  the  phrase,  realizing  the  ideal,  were  translated 
into  the  phrase,  actualizing  the  real,  much  ambiguity  might  be 
avoided.  1845.  WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  300. 

In  Keats  and  Guerin,  in  whom  the  faculty  of  naturalistic  interpre- 
tation is  overpoweringly  predominant,  the  natural  magic  is  per- 
fect; when  they  speak  of  the  world,  they  speak  like  Adam, 
naming  by  divine  inspiration  the  creatures;  their  expression 
corresponds  with  the  thing's  essential  reality.  1865.  M. 
ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  112. 

Throughout   its   whole    history    the   term    "  reality " 
has   often   been    employed    to   denote    an    imaginative 

heightening  of  ordinary  events  and  appear-  AS  imagina- 
tive fasci- 
ances,  which,  by  holding  the  attention  spell-  nation. 

bound,  seems  itself  to  represent  actual  appearances, 
that  have  become  externalized,  as  it  were,  and  made  a 
basis,  perhaps,  for  future  thought  and  action. 

Waller  borrows  too  many  of  his  sentiments  and  illustrations  from 
the  old  mythology,  for  which  it  is  vain  to  plead  the  example  of 
ancient  poets ;  the  deities  which  they  introduced  so  frequently 
were  considered  as  realities,  so  far  as  to  be  received  by  the  im- 
agination, whatever  sober  reason  might  even  then  determine. 
1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  216. 

Don  Quixote  .  .  .  presents  something  more  stately,  more  roman- 
tic, and  at  the  same  time  more  real  to  the  imagination  than  any 
other  hero  upon  record.  1819.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com.  Writers, 
p.  145. 

Imagination  has  ...  in  Milton's  Satan  .  .  .  achieved  its  highest 
triumph,  in  imparting  a  character  of  reality  and  truth  to  its  most 
daring  creations.  CHANNING,  p.  446. 

Vivid  realism  of  the  impossible.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  120. 

We  have  admitted  that  Beatrice  Portinari  was  a  real  creature,  but 
how  real  she  was,  and  whether  as  real  to  the  poet's  memory  as 
to  his  imagination  may  fairly  be  questioned.  1872.  LOWELL, 
IV.,  p.  206. 

17 


258       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

But  the  term  "  reality  "  has  been  employed  to  denote 
the  facts  and  events  of  actual  life  far  more  frequently 
AS  actuality  ^nan  ^n  ^ne  uses  °^  ^ne  term  just  given.  In 
onunar  this  more  common  and  general  use  of  the 


term,  two  distinctions  of  meaning  at  least 
should  be  drawn.  Until  within  the  latter  portion  of 
the  present  century,  the  term  usually  denoted  the  facts 
and  events  of  actual  life,  considered  in  so  mechanical 
a  fashion  that  every  one  would  agree  even  as  to  the 
most  minute  details  of  the  facts  or  events  portrayed. 
Hence  the  subject-matter  of  literature  was  inevitably 
taken  from  those  phases  of  actual  life  well  known  in 
ordinary  experience,  but  new,  perhaps,  to  literary  treat- 
ment. The  realistic  method  of  literary  treatment  was 
usually  assumed  to  be  a  full,  detailed,  and  accurate 
account  of  the  fact  or  event  recorded,  —  selection  in 
the  details  being  permissible  only  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  incoherency  and  tediousness. 

We  are  more  affected  by  reading  Shakespeare's  description  of 
Dover  Cliff,  than  we  would  be  with  the  reality;  because  in 
reading  the  description  we  refer  to  our  own  experience,  and 
perceive  with  surprise  the  justness  of  the  imitations.  1761. 
GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  339. 

They  (formerly)  loved,  I  will  not  say  tediousness,  but  length  and 
a  train  of  circumstances  in  a  narration.  The  vulgar  do  so  still  : 
it  gives  an  air  of  reality  to  facts,  it  fixes  the  attention,  raises  and 
keeps  in  suspense  their  expectation,  and  supplies  the  defects  of 
their  little  lifeless  imagination.  1762.  GRAY,  I.,  p.  392. 

The  plot  and  character  are  natural  without  being  too  real  to  be 
pleasing.  1829.  NEWMAN,  Es.  on  Aristotle,  p.  16. 

Fiction  has  no  business  to  exist  unless  it  is  more  beautiful  than 
reality.  1865.  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  392.  (Quoted.) 

Exaltation  of  the  commonplace  through  the  scientific  spirit  in  real- 
ism. HOWELLS,  Grit,  and  Fiction,  p.  16. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.        259 

More  recently  it  has  usually  been  recognized  that 
external  facts  and  events  can  be  conceived  of  only  as 
they  are  brought  into  relation  with  some  AS  actuality 

...  ..,,.,.  ,        T       motived  and 

unity mg  principle  which  is  not  external.  In  selected, 
literature,  this  unifying  principle  is  some  ethical  mo- 
tive or  the  action  of  the  aesthetic  instincts.  Selection 
of  details  in  composition  has  been  recognized  not  only 
as  a  necessity,  but  often  as  constituting  the  chief  means 
for  a  vivid  representation  of  the  actual  fact.  Also,  the 
representation  of  the  more  uncommon  features  of  ac- 
tual life  is  not  thought  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
realistic  method  of  treatment.  Hence  the  recent  use 
of  the  term  "reality"  represents  a  broader  conception 
of  actual  life  than  the  early  use  of  the  term,  a  more 
discriminative  selection  of  the  details  to  be  mentioned, 
and  a  wider  limit  to  the  subject-matter  of  literary 
representation. 

A  figure  may  be  ideal  and  yet  accurate,  realistic  and  yet  untrue, 
as  a  fact  not  thoroughly  fathomed  may  be  in  effect  a  falsehood. 
There  is  a  far  stronger  cross  of  the  ideal  in  the  realism  of  J5s- 
chylus  or  Shakespeare  than  runs  through  the  work  of  the  great 
modern  writers.  1869.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  220. 

A  vigorous  grasp  of  realities  is  rather  a  proof  of  a  powerful  than  a 
defective  imagination.  1874.  STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  283. 

When  we  speak  of  Middlemarch  as  more  realistic,  and  Daniel 
Deronda  as  more  ideal,  it  is  not  meant  that  one  is  true  to  the 
facts  of  life  and  the  other  untrue ;  it  is  rather  meant  that  in  the 
one  the  facts  are  taken  more  in  the  gross,  and  in  the  other  there 
is  a  passionate  selection  of  those  facts  that  are  representative  of 
the  highest'  (and  also  of  the  lowest)  things.  DOWDEN,  St.  in 
Lit.,  p.  285. 

Thus  every  workman  must  be  a  realist  in  knowledge,  an  idealist 
for  interpretation,  and  the  antagonism  between  realists  and  ro- 


260       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

mancers  is  a  forced  one.     1892.     STEDMAN,   Nat.  of  Poetry, 
p.  199. 

That  only  is  real  for  us  which  reappears  before  our  solitude  when, 
closing  our  eyes  and  letting  our  spirit  ruminate  upon  itself,  we 
evoke  our  personal  mirage  of  the  universe.  —  P.  BOURGET,  p.  190. 
Reasonable  (XX.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Voltaire  tells  that  Mr.  Addison  was  the  first  Englishman  who  had 

written  a  reasonable  tragedy.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  14. 
Recondite:  Swiu.  to  present. 

So  recondite  and  exquisite  as  the  choral  parts  of  a  Greek  play. 

SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  162. 
Recreation :  Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  268. 
Redundant  (XIX.)  b:  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

Redundancy  of  humours.     SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  131. 
Refinement  (V.)  :  Mil.  to  present. 

I.  Previous    to   the    present  century,  "refinement" 
usually  represented   a  cultured  use   of   language,   and 
an   apt    selection  of  the   facts  of  history  for  literary 
composition. 

Endeavor  ...  by  precepts  and  by  rules  to  perpetuate  that  style 
and  idiom  .  .  .  which  have  flourished  in  the  purest  periods  of 
the  language.  ...  it  gives  gentility,  elegance,  refinement. 
MILTON,  III.,  p.  496. 

The  ancients  refined  upon  history.     RYMER,  1st  Pt.,  p.  16. 

II.  During  the  present  century,  refinement  has  usu- 
ally represented  certain  mental  characteristics :  delicate 
sensibility,  and  chastened  emotions  and  feelings. 

Poetic  imagery  .  .  .  must  elevate,  deepen,  or  refine  the  human 

passion.     WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  56. 
Reflective  (XX.)  b :  T.  War.  to  present. 

Reflective  and  self-sustained.     WHIPPLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  49. 
REGULARITY  (II.). 

There  has  been  considerable  change  in  the  favor  with 
which  the  term  "regularity"  has  been  regarded  in  Eng- 


A  HISTORY  Of'  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.      261 

lish  criticism,  but  there  has  perhaps  been  no  change  in 
its  meaning.  It  has  been  employed  chiefly  to  charac- 
terize the  general  design  or  plot  construction  of  a  lit- 
erary production,  but  it  sometimes  refers  to  the  more 
subordinate  features  of  a  composition,  especially  to  the 
versification.  Regularity  is  determined  less  immedi- 
ately than  proportion  by  an  inner  sense,  and  it  makes 
less  assumption  of  law  and  fixed  method  than  order. 
It  denotes  a  more  or  less  mechanical  correspondence 
between  the  different  parts  of  a  composition,  or  between 
the  parts  of  one  composition  and  those  of  other  com- 
positions. Regularity  was  first  opposed  to  variety,  then 
to  imagination.  In  the  early  portion  of  the  present 
century  the  term  fell  almost  wholly  into  disfavor,  but 
more  recently  it  has  again  come  into  active  use  in  con- 
nection with  the  criticism  of  prose  literature. 

Regularities :  The  unities  of  action,  time,  and  place.     RYMEII,  1st 

Pt.,  p.  24. 

[Regularity  and  roundness  of  design.     ID.,  2d  Pt.,  p.  85. 
The  genius  of  the  English  cannot  bear  too  regular  a  play ;  we  are 

given  to  variety.     1690.     DRYDEN,  VII.,  p.  313. 
Imagination,  a  licentious   and  vagrant  faculty,  unsusceptible  of 

limitations,  and  impatient  of  restraint,  has  always  endeavored  to 

baffle  the  logician,  to  perplex  the  confines  of  distinction,  and 

burst  the  inclosures  of  regularity.     1751.      S.  JOHNSON,  III., 

p.  93. 
The  work  of  a  correct  and  regular  writer  is  a  garden  accurately 

formed  and  diligently  planted,  varied  with  shades,  and  scented 

with  flowers;   the  composition* of  Shakespeare  is  a  forest,  etc. 

1765.     S.  JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  127. 
The  essence  of  verse  is  regularity,  and  its  ornament  is  variety, 

1781.     ID.,  VII.,  p.  346. 
The  true  ground  of  the  mistake  lies  in  the  confounding  mechanical 

regularity  with  organic  form.     1810.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  55. 


262       A  tilSTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  thoughts  are  vast  and  irregular ;  and  the  style  halts  and  stag- 
gers under  them.  1820.  HAZLITT,  Age  of  EL,  p.  44. 

The  needful  qualities  for  a  fit  prose  are  regularity,  uniformity,  pre- 
cision, balance.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  39. 
Relief  (TX.):  Relief  and  variety.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  405. 
Rememberable  :  A  rememberable  verse.    LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  146. 
Remote:  Pope  to  present.     S.  Johnson,  VII.,  p.  208. 
Repartee  (XVII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Repartee  is  the  soul  of  conversation.     DRYDEN,  III.,  p.  245. 

Repartee  ...  a  chase  of  wit.     ID.,  XV.,  p.  334. 

Bon  mots  and  repartees.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  144. 
Repose  (XIX.)  a  :  Jef.,  Stephen. 

Want  of  plainness,  simplicity,  and  repose.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  471. 
Repulsive  (XXII.)  b\  Swm.  to  present.     Dowden,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  82. 
Reserve  (XIX.)  b  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Reserve  and  gravity  of  the  style.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  367. 
Resonance  (X.) :  Swin.     Gosse,  Hist,  Eng.  Lit,,  III.,  p.  237- 
Restless  (XIX.)  :  Howells,  Grit,  and  Fiction,  p.  24. 
Restrained  (XIX.)  6:  Low.  to  present. 

Restrained  vigor.     LOWELL,  L,  p.  296. 
Revolting  (XXII.)  b:  Jef.,  Gosse. 

Revolting  in  its  details.     JEFFREY,  III.,  p.  133. 
Rhapsodical  (XXL):  Campbell  to  present. 

Poetical  and  rhapsodical.     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to  Blake,  p.  cxiii. 
Rhetorical  (XIX.)  b:  Lodge  to  present. 

Rhetoric  ...  a  sort  of  art  is  immediately  thought  of  that  is  osten- 
tatious and  deceitful ;  the  minute  and  trifling  study  of  words 
alone ;  the  pomp  of  expression ;  the  studied  fallacies  of  Rhetoric ; 
ornament  substituted  in  the  room  of  use.  BLAIR,  Rhet.,  p.  10. 

The  prosing  rhetoric  of  the  French  tragedy.    BAGEHOT,  II.,  p.  273. 

Macaulay  was  a  born  rhetorician ;  but  beyond  the  apparent  rhe- 
torical truth  of  things  he  never  could  penetrate.  M.  ARNOLD, 
Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  304. 

Rhetorical,  ornate,  — and  poetically  quite  false.     ID.,  2d  S.,  p.  97. 
RHYTHMICAL  (X .). 

The  rhythmical,  unlike  the  metrical,  is  not  regarded 
as  a  quality  which  inheres  objectively,  as  it  were,  in 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       263 

the  composition  considered  as  a  completed  product. 
The  rhythmical  refers  wholly  to  the  effect  which  the 
literary  work  produces  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader. 
It  consists  of  such  a  succession  of  regular  and  irregular 
movements  as  shall  to  a  certain  extent  gratify  the  qx- 
pectation  or  anticipation  aroused,  but  shall  also  by 
means  of  little  surprises  constantly  give  the  expecta- 
tion new  material  upon  which  inferences  may  be  based. 

I  would  trace  the  origin  of  meter  to  the  balance  in  the  mind  ef- 
fected by  that  spontaneous  effort  which  strives  to  hold  in  check 
the  workings  of  passion.     1817.     COLERIDGE,  III., 'p.  415. 
Rhythmical  and  sweet.     HALLAM,  III.,  p.  335. 
Rhythmic  emotion.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  2. 

The  language,  alike  of  poetry  and  prose,  attains  a  rhythmical 
power,  independent  of  metrical  combination,  and  dependent 
rather  on  some  subtle  adjustment  of  the  elementary  sounds  of 
words  themselves  to  the  image  or  feeling  they  convey.  1874. 
PATER,  Ap.,  p.  57. 

Ribald  (XIV.)  :  J.  War.,  Gosse.     J.  Warton,  II.,  p.  250. 
Rich  (XI.)  b  :  Dekker  to  present.     Much  in  use  in  present  century. 
Richness  and  sweetness  of  sound.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  276. 
Rich  in  colour.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  Jonson,  p.  65. 
Rich  perfume.     DOWDEN,   Tr.  &  St.,  p.  207. 
Ridiculous  (XVII.)  :  Pope  to  present. 

The  only  source  of  the  true  ridiculous  ...  is  affectation.    FIELD- 
ING, J.  Andrews,  Pref.,  pp.  13,  14. 
Rigmarole:  Saintsbury,  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  319.  ' 
Ringing:  Gosse,  Brooke. 

Ringing  hyperboles.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  43. 
Ripe :  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Ripe  and  .  .  .  free  from  all  romantic  influence.      GOSSE,  From 

Shak.,  etc.,  p.  94. 
Robust  (XII.)  :  Cole,  to  present. 

Robustness  is  the  great  characteristic  of  Dryden's  poetry.  Ros- 
SETTI,  Lives,  p.  106. 


264       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Romance  (XXI.)  :  Campbell  to  present. 

Upon  these  three  columns  —  chivalry,  gallantry,  and  religion  — 
repose  the  fictions  of  the  middle  ages,  especially  those  usually 
designated  as  romances.  HALLAM,  Lit.  Hist.,  I.,  p.  ]35. 

The  impotent  feelings  of  romance,  so  singularly  characteristic  of 
this  century,  may  indeed  gild,  but  never  save,  the  remains  of 
those  mightier  ages  to  which  they  are  attached  like  climbing 
flowers.  RUSKIN,  Stones  of  Venice,  I.,  p.  62. 

Diffusion  is  in  the  nature  of  a  romance.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 
p.  122. 

ROMANTIC  (IX.). 

The  history  of  the  term  "  romantic  "  may  be  divided 
into  three  periods.     During  the  first  period,  whieh  iri- 

AS  wild  cw-  c^u(^es  ^ne  ^as^  na^  °^  ^ne  eighteenth  century, 
the  term  was  employed  in  two  more  or  less 


distinct  ways.  The  romantic  sometimes  in- 
dicated the  general  spirit  of  romance  and  adventure. 
When  given  this  meaning,  the  term  was  not  very  much 
in  favor  with  the  critics.  The  chivalric  passion  and 
the  beautiful  superstitions  with  which  it  was  histori- 
cally associated,  could  not  fail,  indeed,  to  elicit  admira-  | 
tion.  But  it  was  necessary  to  ascribe  to  this  chivalric 
passion  very  many  improbable  adventures,  extravagant 
combinations  of  incidents,  and  inconceivable  feats  of 
daring,  —  all  of  them  flagrant  violations  of  "  truth  " 
and  "nature." 

(Of  Corneille's  Plays.)  It  is  observed  how  much  that  wild  goose 
chase  of  Romance  runs  still  in  their  head  ;  some  scenes  of  love 
must  everywhere  be  shuffled  in,  though  never  so  unseasonably. 
EYMER,  2d  Ft.,  p.  62. 

Those  intrigues  and  adventures  to  which  the  romantic  taste  has 
confined  modern  tragedy.  T.  TICKELL,  Arber's  Garner,  VI., 
p.  520. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       265 

He  who  would  think  the  Faery  Queen,  Palarnon  and  Arcite,  The 

Tempest,  or  Comus,  childish  and  romantic,  might  relish  Pope. 

1756.     J.  WAETON,  II.,  p.  403. 
That  for  which  Tasso  is  most  liable  to  censure  is  a  certain  roman- 

tic vein  which  runs  through  many  of  the  adventures  and  inci- 

dents of  his  poem.     BLAIR,  Rhet.,  p.  497. 

Often,  also,  the  romantic  represented  any  unusually 
striking  and  beautiful  mental  image  or  view  of  natural 
scenery.     When  thus  employed,  the  term  was     Ag  wild 
always   regarded  with   favor  by  the   critics.     HJener^aSd 
But  the  romantic  scene  or  image  was  often 
merely    the    background   and   localized    setting,   so   to 
speak,  for   the   activity  of   the  romantic   passion,  and 
hence  the  two  meanings  of  the  term  blended  impercep- 
tibly into  a  single  meaning. 

The  country  of  the  Scotch  warriors  described  in  ...  Chevy 
Chase  .  .  .  has  a  fine  romantic  situation.  1710.  ADDISON, 
II.,  p.  378. 

I  cannot  at  present  recollect  any  solitude  so  romantic.  .  •  •  The 
mind  naturally  loves  to  lose  itself  in  one  of  these  wildernesses, 
and  to  forget  the  hurry,  the  noise,  and  splendor  of  more  pol- 
ished life.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  349. 

Wild  and  romantic  imagery.     ID.,  II.,  p.  35. 

Beautifully  romantic.     ID.,  p.  65. 

During  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
opposition  between  the  terms  "  romantic  "  and  "  clas- 
sical," which  had  hitherto  been,  for  the  most  As  energetic 
part,  merely  historical  and  casual,  developed 


into  a  philosophical  antithesis,  in  which  the  id 
terms  were  intended  to  be  really  and  essentially  op- 
posed and  complementary  to  each  other.     The  roman- 
tic became  more  refined   and  intellectual  than  it  had 


266       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

formerly  been.  Chivalric  passion  was  transformed  into 
poetic  passion  ;  wild  and  picturesque  imagery  into 
suggestive  imagery.  The  romantic  represented  the 
more  pronounced  idealizing  tendencies  in  literature,  a 
broader  and  yet  broader  view  of  human  life,  depth  of 
conception  and  feeling,  a  fierce  intellectual  tension, 
from  hovering  ever  on  the  borders  of  the  incompre- 
hensible, the  mysterious,  the  infinite. 

In  Shakespeare,  the  commonest  matter-of-fact  lias  a  romantic  grace 
about  it.  1817.  HAZLITT,  Shak.,  p.  196. 

Romantic  and  enthusiastic.     ID.,  p.  182. 

The  great  difference,  then,  which  we  find  between  the  romantic  and 
classical  style,  between  ancient  and  modem  poetry,  is,  that  the 
one  more  frequently  describes  things  as  they  are  interesting  in 
themselves,  the  other  for  the  sake  of  the  associations  of  ideas 
connected  with  them  ;  that  the  one  dwells  more  on  the  immedi- 
ate impressions  of  objects  on  the  senses,  the  other  on  the  ideas 
which  they  suggest  to  the  imagination.  1820.  ID.,  Age  of  EL, 
p.  246. 

Romantic  beauty  and  high-wrought  passion.     ID.,  El.  Lit.,  p.  126. 

Romantic,  sweet,  tender.     ID.,  p.  169. 

The  real  and  proper  use  of  the  word  romantic  is  simply  to  charac- 
terize an  improbable  or  unaccustomed  degree  of  beauty,  sublim- 
ity, or  virtue.  .  .  .  True  friendship  is  romantic,  to  the  men  of 
the  world  ;  true  affection  is  romantic  ;  true  religion  is  romantic. 
1853.  RUSKIN,  Lecture  on  A.  &  P.,  p.  62. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century  the 
"romantic"  has  been  placed  in.  opposition  to  the  "real- 

n°   ^GSS    ^an    *°   ^1G    "classical."      As 


As  suggestive, 

SHrtsiS'  '  opposed  to  the  "realistic,"  the  "romantic" 

idealization.       -.  ,.   ,.  ,      ,.  -, 

denotes  an  artistic  selection  and  an  impas- 
sioned treatment  of  the  subject-matter  of  literature. 
As  opposed  to  the  classical,  "  romantic  "  has  become 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       267 

for  the  most  part  a  classifying  term,  being  employed 
to  designate  two  periods  of  English  literature, — 
Shakespeare  being  the  culmination  of  the  first  period, 
Wordsworth  of  the  second. 

It  is  this  warmth  of  circumstance,,  this  profusion  of  interesting 
detail,  which  has  caused  the  name  romantic  to  be  perse  veringly 
applied  to  modern  literature.  1856.  BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  I., 
p.  120. 

The  side  of  Elliott's  genius  which  is  most  remote  from  reality, 
which  loved  to  be  romantic,  was  his  less  true  self,  and  in  his 
romantic  poems  there  is  unquestionably  a  note  of  spuriousness. 
DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  pp.  39,  40. 

The  romantic  movement  was  as  universal  then  as  the  realistic 
movement  is  now,  and  as  irresistible,  It  was  the  literary  ex- 
pression of  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  as  realism  is  the  literary 
expression  of  republicanism  and  democracy*  HOWELLS,  Mod. 
It.  Poets,  p.  133. 

At  its  best,  romantic  literature  in  every  period  attains  classical 
quality,  giving  true  measure  of  the  very  limited  value  of  those 
well-worn  critical  distinctions.     1886.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  161. 
Rough  (II.) :  Ascham  to  present. 

Lucretius  is  scabrous  and  rough  in  these  .  .  .  antique  words.     B. 

JONSON,  Timber,  p.  61. 
Rough-hewn   (II.) :    Bentley's    vernacular    style    is    rough-hewn. 

GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  104. 

Rubbishy  (XI.)  :  Ros.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  139. 
Rude  (V.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

Rude  and  imperfect.     BENTLEY,  I.,  p.  324.    . 

Rude,  inartificial  majesty.     S.  JOHNSON,  III.,  p.  83. 
Rugged  (V.) :  Collier  to  present. 

I.  Rough. 

After  about  half  a  century  of  forced  thoughts  and  rugged  meter, 
some  advances  toward  nature  and  harmony  had  been  made  by 
Waller  and  Denbam.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  pp.  307,  308. 

II.  Sturdy. 

Rugged  simplicity  ...  of  Burns.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  11. 


268       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Rustic  (V.)  :  Sidney  to  present. 

Rustic  and  awkward.  .  .  .  Rustic  terms  are  unlikely  to  be  com- 
pounded with  accuracy.     LANDOR,  VIII.,  p.  407. 
Saccade:  Saccade, —  its  rapidity  is  jerky.     M.  ARNOLD,  Celtic  Lit., 

p.  194. 
Sad  (XIV.)  :  Whip,  to  present. 

Wordsworth  has  not  the  note  of  plangent  sadness  which  strikes  the 
ear  in  men  as  morally  inferior  to  him  as  Rousseau,  Keats,  etc. 
MORLEY,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  41. 
Sagacity  (XX.)  b  :  Jef.,  Mor. 

Depth  of  sagacity.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  91. 
Salient  (XVI.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Donne  is  full  of  salient  verses.     LOWELL,  Prose,  III.,  p.  35. 
Salt  (XVII.):  Dry.,  Wil. 

His  wit  is  faint  and  his  salt  .  .  .  almost  insipid.     DRYDEN,  XIII., 

p.  88. 
As  for  the  saltuess  of  sagacity  and  wit,  Mr.  Wordsworth  looks 

down  upon  it  as  a  profane  thing.     WILSON,  V.,  p.  395. 
Sameness  (II.)  :  Collier  to  present. 

Between  variety  and  sameness.     HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy,  p.  37- 
Sanity  (XX.)  b :  Noble  sanity.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  302. 
Sappy :  Weightiness   of  sappy  words.      NEWTON,   Spenser  Society, 

XLIII.,  p.  3. 
Sarcasm  (XVII.) :  Gold,  to  present. 

Wit  and  humour  stand  on  one  side,  irony  and  sarcasm  on  the 

other.     LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  282. 

Sardonic :  Sardonic  persiflage.     SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eug.  Lit.,  p.  254. 
Satire  (XVII.):  Dry.  to  present. 

I.  Previous  to  the  present  century  the  satirical  usu- 
ally represented  raillery  and  sarcasm  at  the  less  favored 
conditions  and  the  less  refined  achievements  of  life, 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  more  cultured  attain- 
ments and  conditions. 

Satire :  a  sharp,  well-mannered  way  of  laughing  a  folly  out  of 

countenance.     1693.     DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  112. 
Satire  is  the  poetry  of  a  nation  highly  polished.     T.  WARTON, 
p.  950. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     269 

^  II.  During  the  present  century  satire  has  indicated 
a  more  or  less  genial  play  of  humor  upon  the  incon- 
gruities of  actual  life,  in  view  of  an  ideal,  —  the  pur- 
pose or  ideal  being  more  persistent  and  definite  than 
in  the  case  of  pure  humor,  and  thus  causing  it  to 
verge  toward  bitterness  and  malignity. 

Richter's  satire  is  playful  .  .  .  never  bitter,  scornful,  or  malignant. 

DE  QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  271. 

Whenever  the  satire  of  the  noble  grotesque  fixes  upon  human 
nature,  it  does  so  with  so  much  sorrow  mingled  amidst  its 
indignation ;  in  its  highest  forms  there  is  an  infinite  tenderness, 
like  that  of  the  fool  in  Lear.  RUSKIN,  Stones  of  Venice,  II., 
p.  194. 

Savour :  Swin.,  Mor.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  71. 
Scabrous  (II.)  :  B.  Jon.,  Dry.     B.  Jonson,  Timber,  p.  61. 
Scholastic  (XY.)  :  S.  John.,  E.  Brown. 

Scholastic  .  .  .  but  not  inelegant.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  19. 
The  pedantry  ...  of  Milton  ...  (if  it  is  to  be  so  called),  of  the 
scholastic  enthusiast,  who  is  constantly  referring  to  images  of 
which  his  mind  is  full,  is  as  graceful  as  it  is  natural.     HAZLITT, 
Round  Table,  p.  47. 
Scientific:    "Zenith-height"  is  harsh  to  the  ear  and  too  scientific. 

GRAY,  III.,  p.  74. 
Scrupulous  (XIX.)  b :  Scrupulous  delicacy  of  taste.     JEFFREY,  I., 

p.  165. 
Sculpturesque  (XIX.)  6: 

In  the  Greek  drama  one  must  conceive  the  presiding  power  to  be 
Death ;  in  the  English,  Life.  What  Death  ?  What  Life  ?  That 
sort  of  death  or  of  life  locked  up  and  frozen  into  everlasting 
slumber,  which  we  see  in  sculpture ;  that  sort  of  life,  of  tumult, 
of  agitation,  of  tendency  to  something  beyond,  which  we  see  in 
painting.  The  picturesque,  in  short,  domineers  over  English 
tragedy ;  the  sculpturesque  or  the  statuesque  over  the  Grecian. 
DE  QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  315. 

Scurrilous  (XIV.)  :  Hal.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  246. 
Seasonable  (IV.) :  Ryraer  to  present.     RYMER,  3d  Pt.,  p.  62. 


270       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Sedate  (XIX.)  a:  Swin.,  Gosse. 

Grave  and  sedate.     SWINBUHNE,  Mis.,  p.  105. 
Seductive  (XXII.)  6 :  Jef.,  Saints. 

Seductive  beauty.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  42. 
Seemly  (IV.) :  Put.,  Webbe. 

Seemely  simplicity.     WEBBE,  p.  53. 
Selection  (XXIII  )  :  S.  John,  to  present. 

I.  Until  within  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present 
century,  selection  denoted  an  intellectual  choice,  a  more 
or  less  logical   severity,  leading   to   condensation   and 
accuracy. 

Young's  poetry  .  .  .  abounds  in  thought,  but  without  much  accu- 
racy or  selection.  S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  461. 

Crabbe's  great  selection  and  condensation  of  expression.  JEF- 
FREY, II.,  p.  276. 

II.  During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century 
selection  has  indicated  an  instinctive  and  aesthetic  ap- 
propriation of  certain  possible  elements  in  the  construc- 
tion of  literature,  leading  to  its  elevation  and  perhaps 
to  its  idealization. 

Your  historian  with  absolutely  truthful  intention  .  .  .  must  needs 
select,  and  in  selecting  assert  something  of  his  own  humour, 
something  that  comes  not  of  the  world  without,  but  of  a  vision 
within.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  5. 

A  passionate  selection  of  those  facts  that  are  representative  of  the 
highest  (and  also  of  the  lowest)  things.  DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit., 
p.  285. 

Self-assertive  (XII.)  :  Ros.,  Swin.     Rossetti,  Lives,  p.  105. 

Self-control  (XIX.)  b :  Dowden,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  229. 

Self-retarding:  A  self-retarding  movement.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cel.  Lit., 
p.  206. 

Self-withdrawal :  Rossetti,  Lives,  p.  157. 

Senile  (XII.):  Whip.,  Stephen.     Whipple,  Am.  Lit.,  p.  264. 

Sensational  (XV.)  :  T.  Arnold  to  present. 


A  HISTORY  OP  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.      271 

Melo-drama,  or  what  is  generally  called  sensational  writing.     STE- 
PHEN, I.,  pp.  222,  223. 
Sense  (XX.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

What  rhyme  adds  to  the  sweetness,  it  takes  away  from  the  sense. 

DRYDEN,  XIV.,  p.  212. 
Sensibility  (XV.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 
Sensible  (XX.)  a  :  Ascham  to  present. 

Sensibly,  pithily,  bitingly.     NEWTON,   Spenser  Society,  XLIIL, 

p.  3. 
Sensual  (XIV.)  :  Hunt  to  present. 

A  poet  is  innocently  sensuous  when  his  mind  permeates  and  illum- 
ines the  senses ;  when  they,  on  the  other  hand,  muddy  the  mind, 
he  becomes  sensual.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  317. 
The  sensual  fervours  of  Swinburne's  earlier  poems.     DOWDEN,  Tr. 

&  St.,  p.  225. 

Passion  rises  above  the  sensuous,  certainly  above  the  merely  sen- 
sual, or  it  has  no  staying  power.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  &  El.  of  Po- 
etry, p.  262. 
Sensuous  (XV.)  :  Mil.,  Low.  to  present. 

Poetry  .  .  .  simple,   sensuous,   and   passionate.      MILTON,   Mis., 

III.,  p.  473. 

A  wild,  convulsed  sensuousness  in  the  poetry  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
in  which  the  things  of  nature  begin  to  play  a  strange,  delirious 
part      PATER,  Ap.,  p.  218. 
Sententious :  Har.  to  present. 

A  pithey  and  sententious  proposition.     T.  WILSON,  Rhet.,  p.  121. 
The  moral  sententiousness  of  ...  Timon  of  Athens.     HAZLITT, 

El.  Lit.,  p.  46. 

Antithetical  and  sententious  to  affectation.     HALLAM,  II.,  p.  295. 
SENTIMENT  (VI.). 

Until  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  senti- 
ment denoted  any  reflection  or  opinion  concerning 
facts,  or  upon  questions  which  from  their  As  thought 
nature  are  incapable  of  definite  solution  and  in  generaL 
exact  statement.  The  word  "sentiments"  was  uni- 
formly employed  to  indicate  the  thoughts  expressed  by 


272       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

the  characters  of  a  drama,  or  of  any  other  literary  pro- 
duction, —  thoughts  which  revealed  character,  and  served 
as  indices  for  action ;  which  thus  gave  in  a  sense  the 
ethical  purpose,  of  which  the  plot  development  was 
the  tangible  outcome. 

Sentiment,  —  That  whereby  they  in  speaking  prove  anything  or  set 
forth  an  opinion.  ARISTOTLE,  Poetics,  p.  21. 

Sentiment,  —  To  it  appertains  all  the  effect  that  should  be  pro- 
duced by  the  language,  —  proving  and  refutation,  producing 
emotion,  .  .  .  and  exaggerated  or  reduced  ideas.  ID.,  p.  59. 

When  objects  of  any  kind  are  first  presented  to  the  eye  or  imagi- 
nation, the  sentiment  which  attends  them  is  obscured  and  con- 
fused. 1742.  D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  274. 

Sentiments  and  understanding  are  easily  varied  by  education  and 
example.  ID.,  p.  164. 

Sentiment  is  only  a  return  upon  ourselves.  Ideas  relate  to  objects 
outside  of  us.  Their  number  occupying  the  mind  enfeebles  the 
sentiment.  1759.  GIBBON,  IV.  p.  78. 

In  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century  sen- 
timent was  associated  less  with  the  thought  of  a  liter- 
AS  pensive  aiT  production  than  formerly,  and  more  with 
eiing.  ^e  men|ai  imagery.  Sentiment  was  thought 
to  consist  not  so  much  in  definite  expressions  as  in  the 
general  tone  of  the  literary  work.  Sentiment  repre- 
sented the  contemplative  attitude  of  mind  attendant  upon 
a  somewhat  intense  and  a  continued  form  of  aesthetic 
feeling.  Sentiment,  abstracted  and  followed  for  its 
own  sake,  was  called  sentimentalism.  Sentiment  itself 
was  usually  associated  with  passion  and  imagination, 
and  was  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  an  ethical 
purpose.  The  term  represents,  however,  at  least  in  the 
present  century,  a  conservative  tendency  in  literature. 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       273 

It  may  be  said  to  blend  and  modify  the  immediate 
aesthetic  effect  by  means  of  past  sesthetic  effects.  It 
is  always  pensive ;  it  may  even  become  conventional. 

Wordsworth  was  the  first  man  who  impregnated  all  his  descrip- 
tions of  external  nature  with  sentiment  or  passion.  1818. 
WILSON,  V.,  p.  402. 

Richardson's  nature  is  always  the  nature  of  sentiment  and  reflec- 
tion, not  of  impulse  or  situation.  1819.  HAZLITT,  Eng.  Com. 
Writers,  p.  160. 

A  certain  intenseness  in  the  sentiment.  1820.  ID.,  Age  of  EL, 
p.  177. 

They  affect  sentiment  and  passion,  which,  divested  of  imagination, 
are  other  names  for  caprice  and  appetite.  1821.  SHELLEY, 
VII.,  p.  117. 

Sentiment  is  a  complex  thing,  the  issue  of  sensibility  and  imagina- 
tion; and  without  imagination  sentiment  is  impossible.  1850. 
WHIPPLE,  Lit.  and  Life,  p.  288. 

State  truths  of  sentiment,  and  do  not  try  to  prove  them.  (From 
Joubert.)  M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  286. 

Sentiment  is  intellectualized  emotion,  emotion  precipitated,  as  it 
were,  in  pretty  crystals  by  the  fancy.  1867.  LOWELL,  II., 
p.  252. 

Wordsworth  had  much  conventional  sentiment.  1874.  PATER, 
Ap.,  p.  38. 

Sentiment  may  be  regarded  as  the  synthesis  of  thought  and  feeling. 
T.  ARNOLD,  Hist,  of  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  556. 

M.  Coppee's  poetry  .  .  .  possesses  sentiment,  but  hardly  passion. 

DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  421. 
Sentimental  (XV.)  :  Gold,  to  present. 

I.    Occasionally  the  term  has  designated  a  kind  or 
species  of  dramatic  composition. 

Sentimental  Comedy,  —  in  which  the  virtues  of  private  life  are  ex-  \| 
hibited  rather  than  the  vices  exposed ;  and  the  distresses  rather 
than  the   faults  of  mankind   make   our  interest  in  the  piece. 
GOLDSMITH,  I.,  p.  400. 

18 


274       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

II.  Occasionally,  also,  the  term  represents  a  fulness 
or  richness  of  sentiment,  not  necessarily  to  be  regarded 
as  a  literary  fault  or  blemish. 

Sentimental  and  expressive  metaphor.     T.  WAUTON,  p.  661. 
Sentimental,  —  always  ready  to  react  against  the  despotism  of  fact. 
M.  ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit.,  p.  77. 

III.  Usually,  however,  —  during  the  present  century 
almost  uniformly,  —  the  sentimental   has  indicated  an 
excess  of  sentiment,  a  failure  thoroughly  to  assimilate 
or  fathom  the  subject-matter  of  literature,  to  see  and 
feel  it  in  all  its  relations:  and  hence  a  lack  of  balance 
between  the  sensuous  and  the  more  rational  powers  of 
the  mind ;  the  rule  of  the  sensuous,  —  of  mere  sensi- 
bility and  feeling,  —  in  matters  where  reason  ought  to 
hold  sway;    the  narrowing  of  aesthetic  feeling  to  the 
immediate  impression,  and  the  most  elementary  sense 
of   contrast,  thus   basing   it   upon   primitive   sensation 
rather  than  regarding  it  as  the  culmination  of  all  the 
normal  activities  of  the  mind. 

Unless  seasoned  and  purified  by  humour,  sensibility  is  apt  to  run 

wild;  will  readily  corrupt  into  disease,  falsehood,  and,  in  one 

word,  sentimentality.     CARLYLE,  L,  p.  14. 
Carlyle's  innate  love  of  the  picturesque  ...  is  only  another  form 

of  the  sentimentalism  he  so  scoffs  at.     LOWELL,  II.,  p.  92. 
A  laudable  subjectivity  dwells  in  naturalness,  —  the  lyrical  force  of 

genuine  emotions,  including  those  animated  by  the  Zeitgeist  of 

one's  own  day.     All  other  kinds  degenerate  into  sentimentalism. 

STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  pp.  142,  143. 
Serene  (XIX.):  Hume  to  present. 

Pathetic  yet  august  serenity.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  380. 
Serious  (XIV.):  Put.,  Jef.  to  present. 

Chaucer  lacks  the  high   seriousness  of  the  great  classics.      M. 

ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  34. 
Severe  (XIX.)  b ;  Dry.  to  present. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.        275 

The  term  "severe"  represents  a  union  of  strength 
and  definiteness.  The  strength  must  be  restrained  and 
regulated;  the  definiteness  manifests  itself  in  the  gen- 
eral conception  or  design  of  the  literary  work,  in  the 
use  of  language,  in  the  mental  imagery  employed,  in 
the  logical  construction,  arid  in  accuracy  to  the  facts 
represented. 

Virgil  and  Horace,  the  severest  writers  of  the  severest  age.     DRY- 
DEN,  V.,  p.  116. 

Seventy  of  thoughtfulness.     GOLDSMITH,  IV.,  p.  378. 
No  Greek  severity,  no  defined  outline.     BAGEHOT,  I.,  p.  73. 
Keats  entirely  fails  of  Milton's  nervous  severity  of  phrase.     LOW- 
ELL, IV.,  p.  86. 

Severity  and  purity  of  the  style.     T.  ARNOLD,  p.  382. 
The  spirit  of    ...  Antony  and  Cleopatra  ...  is  essentially  se- 
vere.    That  is  to  say,  Shakespeare  is  faithful  to  the  fact.     DOW- 
DEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  308. 

Shallow  :  De  Quin.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  170. 
Shambling :  Vicar  of  Wakefield  ...  is  shambling.      GOSSE,    Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  p.  349. 

Shapeless  (II.) :  Wil.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  86. 
Sharp  (XX.)  b :  Camden  to  present. 

Freshness  and  sharpness.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  392. 
Bright  sharp  strokes.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  16. 
Sharp  and  delicate.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.  etc.,  p.  188. 
Sharply-cut:  Sharply-cut  dialogue.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  35. 
Shining  (V.)  :  Dry.,  Jef. 

Exquisite  and  shining  passages.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  92. 
Short :  Wil.  to  present. 

Sudden,  short,  and  strong.     WILSON,  VIII.,  p.  17. 
Showy  (V.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Showy,  Asiatic  redundancy.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  A.,  p.  204. 
Shrewd  (XX.)  b:  M.  Arn.  to  present.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit., 

p.  195. 

Shrill  (X.)  :  Shrill,  monotonous  treble  ...  of  Waller.     GOSSE,  From 
Shak.,  etc.,  p.  156. 


276       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Shuffling  (XVIII.)  :  Haz.,  Saints. 

Shuffling  anapaest.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  61. 

Sickly  (XIV.):  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  82. 

Significant  (XVI.):  Put.  to  present. 

Silly  (XX.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Distinguished  silliness.     WILSON,  VI.,  p.  126. 

Simpering:  This  simpering  style  ...  of  1660-1700.     GOSSE,  From 
Shak.,  etc.,  p.  223. 

Simpleness  (XX.) :  Cole.,  Swin. 

A   downwright    simpleness    under   the   affectation    of  simplicity. 
COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  196. 

Simplicity :  The  real  quality  .  .  .,  the  French  call  simplicite,  the  sem- 
blance simplesse.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cel.  Lit.,  p.  289. 

SIMPLICITY  (III.). 

The  history  of  the  term  "  simplicity  "  may  be  divided 
into  four  periods.  Until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
AS  a  unified  cen^ulT  simplicity  indicated  a  sincere  direct- 
andCi?npres-  ness  °f  conception  in  the  author,  unelaborated 
methods  of  composition,  and  unity  of  effect 
in  the  reader. 

Simple,  naive,  sincere.     1585.     PUTTENHAM,  pp.  67,  68. 
(Of  Spenser.)  ...  In  all  seemely  simplicity,  of  handling  his  mat- 
ter and  framing  his  words.     1586.     WEBBE,  p.  53. 

From  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  to  within 
the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century,  simplicity 
AS  a  con-  indicated  a  formal  unity  of  design  and  con- 
unity,  str action  in  the  composition,  brought  about 
by  a  refined  method  of  selecting  and  arranging  both 
the  language  and  the  thought, —  a  method  so  refined 
that  it  concealed  its  own  artifice.  The  Greek  Parthe- 
non, the  sober  coloring  and  severe  outlines  of  classic 
architecture,  gave  the  general  image  and  idea  which 
controlled  the  use  of  the  term  during  this  period.  Sim- 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS.       277 

plicity  was  placed  in  opposition  to  the  subtle  and  fine, 
to  conceit  and  the  quaintness  of  wit,  to  Gothic  orna- 
ments, epigrammatical  conceits,  turns,  points,  and  quib- 
bles, to  the  u artificial  and  the  fanciful,"  to  "affectation" 
and  "  extraneous  ornament,"  and  to  the  "  distorted  and 
unnatural." 

The  simple  manner,  which,  being  the  strictest  imitation  of  nature, 
should  of  right  be  the  completest  in  the  distribution  of  its  parts 
and  symmetry  of  its  whole,  is  yet  so  far  from  making  any  osten- 
tation of  method,  that  it  conceals  the  artifice  as  much  as  possible ; 
endeavoring  only  to  express  the  effect  of  art  under  the  appear- 
ance of  the  greatest  ease  and  negligence.  SHAFTESBURY,  I., 
p.  202. 

Much  less  ought  the  low  phrases  and  terms  of  art  that  are  adapted 
to  husbandry  have  any  place  in  such  a  work  as  the  Georgiac, 
which  is  not  to  appear  in  the  natural  simplicity  and  nakedness 
of  its  subject,  but  in  the  pleasantest  dress  that  poetry  can  bestow 
on  it.  ADDISON,  I.,  p.  158. 

The  sentiments  of  Chevy  Chase  ...  are  extremely  natural  and 
poetical,  and  full  of  the  majestic  simplicity  which  we  admire  in 
the  greatest  of  the  ancient  poets.     1710.     ID.,  II.,  p.  384. 
The  great  beauty  of  Homer's  language  consists  in  a  noble  sim- 
plicity, and  yet  his  diction,  contrary  to  what  one  would  imagine 
consistent  with  simplicity,  is  at  the  same  time  very  copious. 
1708.    POPE,  VI.,  p.  13.' 
Simplicity  passes  for  dullness,  when  it  is  not  accompanied  with 

great  elegance  and  propriety.     1742.     D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  243. 
Poetry  cannot  dwell  upon  the  minuter  distinctions  by  which  one 
species  differs  from  another,  without  departing  from  that  sim- 
plicity  of  grandeur   which   fills  the   imagination.      1750.      S. 
JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  178. 

From  near  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  until 
within  the  first  few  decades  of  the  present  century, 
simplicity  in  composition  was  thought  to  be  derived  en- 
tirely from  the  unity  of  literary  impulse  or  AS  a  unity  of 
incentive  in  the  mind  of  the  author.  The  pulse. 


278      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

literary  expression  of  this  unified  incentive,  when  for- 
mally or  intellectually  considered,  might  seem  to  be 
quite  intricate  and  complex ;  yet  the  emotional  effect 
upon  the  reader  was  supposed  to  be  always  a  counter- 
part of  the  original  inspiration  and  conception  in  the 
mind  of  the  author. 

Judge  of  the  Eaery  Queeu  by  the  classic  models,  and  you  are 
shocked  with  its  disorder :  consider  it  with  an  eye  to  its  Gothic 
original,  and  you  find  it  regular.  The  unity  and  simplicity  of 
the  former  are  more  complete :  but  the  latter  has  that  sort  of 
unity  and  simplicity  which  results  from  its  nature.  1762. 
HURD,  IV.,  p.  279. 

Dryden  .  .  .  had  so  little  sensibility  of  the  power  of  effusions 
purely  natural  that  he  did  not  esteem  them  in  others.  Sim- 
plicity gave  him  no  pleasure.  1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII., 
p.  340. 

Cultivate  simplicity ;  banish  elaborateness ;  for  simplicity  springs 
spontaneous  from  the  heart,  and  carries  into  daylight  its  own 
modest  buds,  and  genuine,  sweet,  and  clear  flowers  of  expres- 
sion. 1796.  LAMB,  Letters,  I.,  p.  46. 

The  unconscious  simplicity  of  nature.  18*20.  HAZLITT,  Age  of 
EL,  p.  96. 

Rugged  simplicity.     1828.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  11. 

During  the  latter  portion  of  the  present  century  more 
attention  has  been  given  to  the  formal  expression  of 
AS  unitv  of  ^e  literary  conception.  The  genuineness  of 
SretwSSf*  the  author's  incentive  has  often  been  held  in 
statement.  question.  Simplicity  borders  closely  upon 
"  simpleness,"  "  the  ordinary,"  "  commonness,"  "  vul- 
garity," "  baldness,"  and  "  poverty  of  language."  Noth- 
ing is  simple  which  essentially  contradicts  the  facts  of 
actual  experience.  Simplicity  usually  indicates  an  im- 
mediate perception  or  intuition,  as  it  were,  of  truth  and 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.        279 

reality,  and  its  most  direct  and  unelaborated  expres- 
sion in  language,  —  occasionally  it  denotes  also  a  unity 
of  emotional  effect. 

The  characteristic  of  the  classical  literature  is  the  simplicity  with 
which  the  imagination  appears  in  it.     1856.     B AGE  HOT,  Lit.  St., 
I.,  p.  118. 
The  direct  intelligence  of  simple  reason.     1872.     SWINBURNE,  Es. 

&  St.,  p.  28. 

Simple,  natural,  and  honest.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction. 
Statuesquely  simple.     1872.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  232. 
Kingsley  .  .  .  tried  with  too  obvious  an  effort  to  be  simple  and 

unaffected.     1879.     STEPHEN,  Hrs.  in  a  Lib.,  p.  408. 
This  simplicity  at  first  hand  is  a  strange  contrast  to  the  sought  out 

simplicity  of  Wordsworth.     1883.     PA.TEU,  Ap.,  p.  222. 
The  train  of  passion  which  the  common  movement  of  these  various 
actions  calls  out  in  the  sympathy  of  the  reader  is  as  simple  as 
the  plot  itself  is  intricate.     1885.     MOULTON,  Shak.  as  a  D.  A., 
p.  208. 
SINCERE  (VII.). 

The  term  "sincere"  has  been  much  in  use  during 
the  present  century.  It  is  aimed  chiefly  at  false  orna- 
ment and  over-refinement  in  style,  and  it  represents  a 
union,  so  to  speak,  of  moral  incentive  and  power  of 
artistic  expression.  Art  must  be  not  only  spontane- 
ous, but  it  must  be  spontaneous  with  an  inherent  eth- 
ical purpose.  Literature  must  represent  life  not  only 
as  it  has  been,  but  also  as  it  is  and  will  be :  litera- 
ture expresses  ideals,  which  control  action ;  litera- 
ture is  thus  an  expression  and  controlling  influence  of 
real  life,  and  sincerity  is  the  first  prerequisite  in  its 
production. 

Simple,  naive,  sincere.     1585.     PUTTENHAM,  pp.  64,  68. 
Pope  was  incapable  of  a  sincere  thought  or  a  sincere  emotion. 
1851.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  125. 


280       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  beauty  of  Milton's  sonnets  is  their  sincerity.     1819.     HAZ- 

LITT,  Table  Talk,  p.  242. 
The  sincerity  and  directness  of  the  British  taste.      1840.     DE 

QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  141. 
Lack  of  sincerity  is  always  lack  of  truth.     1892.     STEDMAN,  Nat. 

of  Poetry,  p.  233. 
Sinewy  (XII.) :  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

There  be  some  styles  again  that  have  not  less  blood,  but  less  flesh 
and  corpulence.      These  are  bony  and  sinewey.     B.  JONSON, 
p.  66. 
Sing-song  (II.):   Sing-song  of  Collins'  generation.      LOWELL,  IV., 

p.  4. 
Singular  (IX.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Singular  though  beautiful  style.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  54. 

The  truth  is  that  all  genius  implies  originality,  and  sometimes 

uncontrollable  singularity.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  351. 
Sinuous  (II.)  :  Lamb,  Swin.     Lamb,  Letters,  II.,  p.  79. 
Skill  (V.)  b :  Camden  to  present. 

Skill,  variety,  efficacy,  and  sweetness,  the  four   material  points 

required  in  a  poet.     CAMDEN,  p.  337. 
That  skill  in  the  conduct  of  the  scene  .  .  .  which  is  the  result  of 

art.     HURD,  I.,  p.  350. 
Skipping  (XVIII.) :  Light  skipping  verse.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr. 

Lit.,  p.  164. 

Slack  (XII  )  :  Slackness  and  deviations  ...  of  Faery  Queene.    SAINTS- 
BURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  95. 
Slangy(L):  Saintsbury,  Hist,  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  48. 
Slight:  Homely,  genial,  and  slight.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve,  p.  140. 
Slipper  (XVIII.) :  Put.,  Brooke. 

Sounds  most  flowing  and  slipper  upon  the  tongue.     PUTTENHAM, 

p.  129. 

Slippered  wording.     BROOKE,  Tennyson,  p.  62. 
Slipshod  (XVIII.):  Swin.  to  present.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit., 

p.  57. 
Slovenly  (XIX.) :  Gold,  to  present. 

A  slovenly  sort  of  versification.     GOLDSMITH,  V.,  p.  160. 
Slow  (XVIII.):  Put,,  B.  Jon.  to  present. 

Of  all  Shakespeare's  plays,  Macbeth  is  the  most  rapid,  Hamlet  the 
slowest  in  movement.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  133, 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       281 

Sly :  Jef.  to  present. 

Sly  humour.     SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  329. 
Smart  (V.)£:  Gold,  to  present. 

Skill  and  smartness.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  164. 

Smiting:  Smiting,  clashing  sound.     BROOKE,  Tennyson,  p.  389. 
Smooth  (X.)  :  Camden  to  present. 

In  any  smooth  English  verse  of  ten  syllables,  there  is  naturally 
a  pause  at  the  fourth,  fifth,  or  sixth  syllable.  POPE,  VI., 
p.  57. 

Massinger's  verse  is  smooth  rather  than  melodious ;  the  thoughts 
are  not  born  in  music,  but  mechanically  set  to  a  tune.     WHIF- 
FLE, Lit.  of  Age  of  EL,  p.  183. 
Sober  (XIX.)  b:  Scott  to  present. 

Exactness  and  sobriety  ...  of  Virgil.     SCOTT,  Life  of  Dry  den, 

p.  348. 
Soft  (X.)  :  Dry.  to  present.     In  considerable  use. 

Some  passages  are  beautiful  by  being  sublime;  others  by  being 

soft.     ADDISON,  III.,  p.  283. 
Solecism  (I.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 
Solemn  (XIV.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Solemnity  and  stateliness  are  Milton's  chief  characteristics.  LAN- 
DOR,,  V.,  p.  561. 

Solid  (XIII.) :  T.  War.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  308. 
Sombre  (XIV.):  Car.  to  present. 

Sombre  beauties.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  303. 
Sonorous  (X.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Sonorous,  high,  and  pompous  strain.     SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  200. 
Soul  (XXII.)  b:  WiL,  M.  Arn. 

Your  fact  or  observation  is  not  literature  until  it  is  put  in  some 
sort  of  relation   to   the   soul.      BURROUGHS,    Indoor   Studies, 
p.  232. 
The   union  of  soul   with   intellect.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  1st  S., 

p.  301. 
Soul  as  opposed  to  mind  in  style  .  .  .  soul  securing  colour,  as 

mind  secures  form.     PATER,  Ap.,  etc.,  p.  23. 
Sounding  (X.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

The  sounding  strain.     WILSON, VIII.,  p.  41. 
Spacious  (XI.)  :  Low.  to  present. 

Spacious  style  ...  of  Spenser.     ^OWELL,  IV.,  p.  307. 


282       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  Ancient  Mariner  has  .  .  .  breadth  and  space.     SWLNBURNE, 

Es.  &  St.  p.  264. 
Sparkling  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Sparkling  archaisms.     HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  14-5. 
Spasmodic    (II.):    Whip.,    Saints.      Whipple,    Es.    &    Rev.,    II., 

p.  19. 
Spirit  (XII.) :  Mil.  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

I.  Tone;  manner;  atmosphere. 

Style  and  spirit.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  119. 

II.  Life ;  feeling ;  inner  principle. 

To  give  to  universally  received  truths  a  pathos  and  a  spirit,  which 
shall  readmit  them  into  the  soul  like  revelations  of  the  moment. 
WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  63. 
Spiritual  (XXII.)  b:  Wrords.  to  present. 

So  spiritualized  as  to  be  above  their  sympathies      WILSON,  VII. , 

p.  297. 
Style  being  a  visible  emblem  of  spiritual  traits.     STEDMAN,  Vic. 

Poets,  p.  481. 
Splendid  (XXII.)  b  :  S.  John,  to  present. 

Addison's  style  is  splendid  without  being  gaudy.     BLAIR,  Rhet., 

p.  209. 
Splendor  (V.) :  S.  John,  to  present. 

Splendor  of  elegance.     S.  JOIINSON,  VII.,  p.  452. 
Spontaneous  (VII.)  :  Cole,  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

The  significance  of  the  term  is  chiefly  negative.  The 
spontaneous  is  that  which  is  not  imitated  or  elaborated, 
which  is  not  attained  by  means  of  conscious  design  or 
method.  As  to  the  positive  significance  of  the  term, 
during  the  first  portion  of  the  present  century,  the  spon- 
taneous was  usually  assumed  to  result  only  from  im- 
pulse, feeling,  and  emotion ;  during  the  latter  portion 
of  the  century,  there  has  been  recognized  a  spontane- 
ity of  intellect  and  even  of  taste. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.          283 

Simplicity  springs  spontaneous  from  the  heart,  and  carries  into 
daylight  its  own  modest  buds,  and  genuine,  sweet,  and  clear 
flowers  of  expression.     LAMB,  Letters,  I.,  p.  46. 
Taste,  however  responsive  to  cultivation,  is  inborn,  —  as  spontane- 
ous as  insight.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  47. 
Arnold's  .  .  .  intellectual  processes  are  spontaneous.      ID.,  Yic. 

Poets,  p.  91. 
Sportive  (XVII.) :   Sid.,   Chan,   to  present.     Dowden,   Tr.    &  St., 

p.  278. 
Sprightly  (XVIII.)  :  S.  John,  to  present. 

Sprightliness  of  poetry  .  .  .  clearness  of  prose.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII., 

p.  63. 

Springy  :  Rapid  and  springy.     LOWELL,  I.,  p.  294. 
Spurious  (VIII.) ;  Ros.  to  present.     Dowden,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  40. 
Squalid :  Whipple,  Lit.  of  Age  of  EL,  p.  247. 
Stable  (XL):  Hal.,  Ros. 

Stable  or  tangible  sense.     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to  Blake,  p.  cxxii. 
Stagnant  (XII.)  :  Jef.,  Swin.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  415. 
Staid  (XI.)  :  Staid  and  serious.     DOWDEN,  Tr.  &  St.,  p.  278. 
Stale  (IX.)  :  Stale  uncleanliuess.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  86. 
Startling  (IX.)  :  Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  266. 
Stately  (XL):  Sid.  to  present. 

I.  As  graceful  massiveness,  dignity,  and  poise. 

The  stateliness  of  style  removed  from  the  rude  skill  of  common 
ears.  1557.  SURREY,  in  Lit.  Centuria,  I,  p.  246. 

Gorboduc  ...  is  full  of  stately  speeches  and  well-sounding  phrases. 
SIDNEY,  p.  47. 

Stately  march  of  hexameters.     T.  WARTON,  p.  889. 

II.  As  unwieldy  massiveness,  and  dull  rigidity. 

A  stiffness  and  stateliness  and  operoseness  of  style.  BENTLEY, 
II.,  p.  84. 

Cornelia  is  a  model  of  stately  dulness.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng. 

Lit,  p.  74. 
Statuesque  (XIX.)  b\  Cole,  to  present.     (See  Sculpturesque.) 

Ancient  art  was  .  .  .  statuesque,  modern,  picturesque.  COLE- 
RIDGE, IV.,  p.  58. 


284       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH    CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Steady  (XI.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  163. 
Sterile  (XVI.):  Ros.  to  present. 

Art  severed  from  a  social  faith  becomes,  sooner  or  later,  sterile. 

DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  424. 
Stiff  (XVIII.)  :  Rymer  to  present. 

Stiff  and  Gothic.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  78. 
Stilted  (VII.):  Gosse,  From  Shak.  etc.,  p.  86. 
Stinging  (XXII.)  b:  Vigorous,  stinging  .  .  .  lines.     ROSSETTI,  Lives, 

p.  186. 

Stirring  (XII.)  :  T.  Arn.  to  present.     Stedrnan,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  69. 
Stormy  (XII.):  Stormy   and   impulsive   poems.      WHIPPLE,    Es.   & 

Rev.,  p.  294. 
Straight:  Ascham,  Spenser. 

Straight,  fast,  and  temperate  style.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  204. 

Your  artificial  straightness  of  verse.     SPENSER  to  Harvey,  p.  36. 
Straight-forward  :  Wil.  to  present.     In  considerable  use. 

The  straight-forward  and  strong  simplicity  of  nature  and  truth. 
WILSON,  VI.,  p.  120. 

Classic  straightforwardness.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J.,  p.  20. 
Strained  (XII.)  :  Put.  to  present. 

Without  strain  or  parade.     ROSSETTI,  Lives,  p.  391. 
Strange  (IX.) :  Scott  to  present. 

Full  of  beauty  and  strangeness.     DOWDEN,   Tr.  &  St.,  p.  230. 
STRENGTH  (XII.) :  Dry.  to  present. 

Strength  in  composition  results  from  the  use  of 
simple  monosyllabic  words,  representing  images  which 
are  vivid  and  familiar  rather  than  refined  and  rare ; 
and  from  the  most  unelaborated  methods  of  logical 
construction.  The  term  has  almost  uniformly  been 
associated  with  the  Gothic,  with  feeling,  and  with  pas- 
sion rather  than  with  the  more  intellectual  character- 
istics of  literature. 

Recent  writers  .  .  .  elegant  and  glaring,  Shakespeare  .  .  strong 
and  solemn.  POPE,  X.,  p.  549. 

A  clear  expression  belongs  to  the  understanding,  a  strong  expres- 
sion to  the  passions.  BURKE,  p.  180. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.        285 

And  glut  thyself  with  what  thy  womb  devours.     (Milton.) 
It  is  incredible  how  many  disgusting  images  Milton  indulges  in. 
In  his  age,  and  a  century  earlier,  it  was  called  strength.     LAN- 
DOR,  IV.,  p.  515. 
In  the  storm  and  stress  period  in  Germany  .  .  .  beauty  seemed 

synonymous  with  strength.     CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  58. 
Strenuous  (XII.):  Swin.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  369. 
Stress    (XII.)  :    Intensity  .  .  .  and  .  .  .  stress.      DOWDEN,  St.  in 

Lit.,  p.  275. 
Strict:  Ruskin. 

A  strict  and  succinct  style  is  that  where  you  can  take  away  nothing 

without  loss.     B.   JONSON,  Timber,  p.  62. 

Striking  (IX.):  S.  John,  to  present.     Hallam,  Lit.  Hist.,  I.,  p.  433. 
Studied  (VII.) :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Stumbling  (XVIII.)  :  Stumbling  stanzas.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  76. 
Stupid    (XX.)  6:  Gray  to  present.     J.  Wilson,  VI.,  p.  284-. 
STYLE  :  Low.  to  present. 

I.  An  ornament  or  external  glitter  designed  to  ren- 
der the  work  striking  and  effective. 

Style  ...  an  ornament  adapted  to  vulgar  tastes.  ARISTOTLE, 
Ehet.,  p.  204. 

II.  A  habit  or  method  of  writing  acquired  either  by 
effort  or  without  design. 

Style  is  a  constant  and  continual  phrase  or  tenor  of  speaking  arid 
writing  .  .  .  such  as  he  either  keepeth  by  skill,  or  holdeth  on 
by  ignorance.  PUTTENHAM,  p.  162. 

III.  During  the  latter   portion  of   the  present  cen- 
tury, "style"  has  become  an  active  critical  term.     It 
represents   the   literary  or   artistic   personality    of   the 
author,  permeating  the  thought  and  expression  of  the 
literary  work  and  thus  rendering  its  general  "  tone " 
or   "atmosphere"    a   direct   reflection  of   the   aesthetic 
sense  of  the  writer. 


286       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Style  .  .  .  the  establishment  of  a  perfect  mutual  understanding 

between  the  worker  and  his  material.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  37. 
Style  .  .  .  consists  mainly  in  the  absence  of  undne  emphasis  and 

exaggeration,  in  the  clear  uniform  pitch  which  penetrates  our 

interest  and  retains  it.     ID.,  p.  353. 
That  fine  effluence  of  the  whole  artistic  nature  which  can  hardly 

be  analyzed  and  which  we  term  style.     DOWDEN,   St.  in  Lit., 

p.  192. 
The  common  and  erroneous  idea  of  style  as  the  dress  of  thought, 

and  the  true  definition   of  it  as  the   incarnation  of  thought. 

SAINTSBURY,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  pp.  335,  336. 
Style  is  what  a  sentient  being,  when  he  tries  to  imitate,  cannot 

help  adding  to  the  thing  he  renders.      SYMONDS,  Es.,  Sp.   & 

Sug.,  p.  146. 
Suavity  (XXII.)  b  :  Scott  to  present. 

Suavity  and  grace.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  186. 
Subdued  (XIX.)  6:  J.  War.  to  present. 

Subdued  passion.     POE,  I.,  p.  304. 
Subjective :  Whip,  to  present. 

Elizabethan  style  is  ...  subjective  rather  than  objective.     STED- 

MAN,  Yic.  Poets,  p.  47. 

SUBLIME  (XI.). 

Until  within  the  eighteenth  century  the  sublime  was 
thought  to  consist  of  bold  figures  of  speech,  a  series 
AS  bold  figu-  of  metaphors,  which  seemed  in  fancy  to  an- 

rative  lan- 
guage, nihilate  space  and  time,  to  bring  things  far 

apart  together,  and  thus  to  violate  "nature"  and  the 
well  known  experiences  of  actual  life.  With  their  at- 
tention centred  upon  the  language  of  literature,  the 
early  critics  considered  the  sublime  as  something  either 
to  be  avoided  or  to  be  subordinated  to  more  regulated 
methods  of  composition. 

Nothing  is  truly  sublime  that  is  not  just  and  proper*.      1681. 
DKYDEN,  VI.,  p.  407- 


A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      287 

To  write  thus  upon  low  subjects  is  really  the  true  sublime  of  ridi- 
cule; it  is  the  sublime  of  Don  Quixote.  1726.  POPE,  VIII., 
p.  219. 

Too  true  it  is  that  while  a  plain  and  direct  road  is  paved  to  their 
ityof  or  sublime,  etc.  .  .  .  The  sublime  of  nature  is  the  sky, 
the  sun,  moon,  stars,  etc.  SWIFT,  XIII.,  p.  32. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that,  amidst  the  several  styles  and  manners 
of  discourse  or  writing,  the  easiest  attained  and  earliest  prac- 
tised was  the  miraculous,  the  pompous,  or  what  we  generally 
call  the  sublime.  SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  p.  190. 

The   eighteenth   century  was   a  period   of   transition 
from  this  grammatical  view  of  the  "-sublime"  to  the 
modern  conception  of  the  term.     The  term  As  ^^ 
"sublime"  referred  chiefly  to  the  thought  of 


the  composition.  The  thought  must  be  im- 
pressive and  striking;  it  must  stir  up  in  the  mind  of 
the  reader  a  sort  of  passive  excitation  and  surprise. 
In  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  sub- 
lime was  traced  to  ideas  of  pain,  themselves  pleasur- 
able, with  an  accompanying  paralysis  of  energy.  In 
actual  criticism  the  sublime  was  almost  synonymous 
with  the  pathetic,  as  the  pathetic  was  then  understood. 
(See  "Pathetic.")  The  sublime  represented  a  certain 
compass  and  vividness  of  thought,  and  sometimes  of 
imagery,  the  outlines  of  which  were  often  definitely 
marked,  which  did  not  usually  reach  out  by  suggestion 
toward  the  unknown  and  infinite,  and  which  did  not 
stand  over,  as  it  were,  against  the  reader  himself,  and 
call  out  his  reactive  impulses.  The  sublime  was  a  fas- 
cination and  a  pleasure,  and  the  pleasure  often  sprang 
as  much  from  the  evident  skill  in  execution  as  from 
the  thought  which  was  represented. 


288       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Nor  is  it  sufficient  for  an  Epic  poem  to  be  filled  with  such  thoughts 

as  are  natural,  unless  it  abound  also  with  such  as  are  sublime. 

1711.     ADDISON,  III.,  pp.  186,  187. 
Whatever  is  fitted  in  any  sort  to  excite  the  ideas  of  pain  and  dan- 

ger, that  is  to  say,  whatever  is  in  any  sort  terrible,  or  is  conver- 

sant about  terrible  objects,  or  operates  in  a  manner  analogous  to 

terror,  is  a  source  of  the  sublime.     1756.     BURKE,  I.,  p.  74. 
Those  feelings  are  delightful  when  we  have  an  idea  of  pain  and 

danger  without   being   actually  in   such   circumstances.      ID., 

p.  84. 
The  sublime  and  the  pathetic  are  the  two  chief  nerves  of  all  genu- 

ine poesy.     What  is  there  transcendentally  sublime  or  pathetic 

in  Pope?     1756.     J.  WARTON,  I.,  p.  vi. 
My  fancy  form'd  thee  of  angelic  kind, 
Some  emanation  of  the  all-beauteous  mind. 
How  oft  when  press'd  to  marriage  have  1  said, 
Curse  on  all  laws  but  those  which  love  has  made.     (Pope.) 
This  is  ...  poetical  and  even  sublime.     ID.,  p.  306. 
Paradise  Lost  sometimes  descends  to  the  elegant,  but  its  character- 

istic quality  is  sublimity.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  131. 

During  the  present  century  —  and  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent during  the  latter  portion  of  the  century  preceding 
AS  supreme  —  the  term  "sublime"  has  represented  not 
vividness  of  immediate  impression  so  much 
as  suggestion  of  what  lies  beyond  the  imme- 
diate impression.  There  must  be  indefinitencss,  ob- 
scurity, and  mystery  of  some  kind,  and  this  must  stir 
the  deepest  latencies  of  the  intellectual  powers.  The 
thoughts  and  images  represented  must  be  directly  re- 
lated to  the  most  central  interests  of  human  life  ;  they 
must  be  imbued  with  passion  ;  they  must  in  some  man- 
ner be  typical  of  the  highest  and  most  intense  activity 
of  which  the  human  mind  is  capable.  Occasionally 
this  is  attained  by  the  representation  of  little  more 


anJf" 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS.      289 

than  mere  physical  power,  but  more  usually  by  sug- 
gesting and  calling  forth  the  very  highest  ethical  ideals 
and  purposes. 

The  sublime  must  come  unsought,  if  it  come  at  all ;  and  be  the 
natural  offspring  of  a  strong  imagination.  BLAIR,  Rhet.,  p.  47. 

Greek  art  is  beautiful  .  .  .  but  Gothic  art  is  sublime.  1810. 
COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  235. 

It  is  the  nature  of  thought  to  be  indefinite ;  definiteness  belongs, 
to  external  imagery  alone.  Hence  it  is  that  the  sense  of  sub- 
limity arises,  not  from  the  sight  of  an  outward  object,  but  from 
the  beholder's  reflection  upon  it ;  not  from  sensuous  impression, 
but  from  the  imaginative  reflex.  ID.,  p.  146. 

The  kind  of  sublimity  with  which  the  English  %  have  always  been 
chiefly  delighted,  consists  merely  in  an  exhibition  of  the  strength 
of  the  human  energies  .  .  .  e.  g.  Coriolanus,  Richard  the  Third, 
Satan  in  Paradise  Lost,  etc.  1810.  WILSON,  V.,  p.  393. 

The  terrific  is  sublime  only  when  it  fixes  you  in  the  midst  of  all 
your  energies,  and  not  when  it  weakens,  nauseates,  and  repels 
you.  1826.  LANDOR,  IV.,  p.  442. 

Sublimity  is  Hebrew  by  birth.     1832.     COLERIDGE,  VI.,  406. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  of  all  powers  which  act  upon  man 
through  his  intellectual  nature,  the  very  rarest  is  that  which  we 
moderns  call  the  sublime.  The  Grecians  had  apparently  no 
word  for  it,  unless  it  were  that  which  they  meant  by  TO  a-c^ivov : 
for  v^ros  was  a  comprehensive  expression  for  all  the  qualities 
which  gave  a  character  of  life  or  animation  to  the  composition, 
—  such,  even,  as  were  philosophically  opposed  to  the  sublime. 
In  the  Roman  poetry,  and  especially  in  Lucan,  at  times  also  in 
Juvenal,  there  is  an  exhibition  of  a  moral  sublime,  perfectly  dis- 
tinct from  anything  known  to  the  Greek  poetry.  1839.  DE 
QUINCEY,  X.,  p.  400. 

So  long  as  a  man  continues  artificial,  the  sublime  is  a  conscious 

absurdity  to  him.     1871.     LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  32. 
Subtle  (V.)  b ;  cf.  (XX.)  b  :  Put.  to  present. 

Delicate  discrimination,  springing  from  an  unerring 
sense  of  native  affinities  and  relations  and  the  most 
penetrative  intellectual  acumen. 

19 


290     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

In  Gower's  inventions  ...  is  small  subtlety.     PUTTENHAM,  p.  76. 

Subtlety  .  .  .  nicety  of  distinction.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  16. 

Subtle  adjustment  of  the  elementary  sounds,  of  words  themselves 

to  the  image  or  feeling  they  convey.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  57- 
Succinct  (XX.)  b:  Cam.  to  present.     (See  Strict.) 
Sudden  (IX.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Sufficient:  Sufficient  and  strong.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  126. 
Sugared  :  Sidney. 

Heliodorus  in  his  sugared  invention.     SIDNEY,  p.  11. 
SUGGESTIVE  (XVI.). 

The  term  " suggestive"  has  been  prominent  through- 
out the  criticism  of  the  present  century.  It  is  often 
mentioned  in  Connection  with  the  imagination,  whose 
activity  it  in  part  represents.  The  term  refers  prima- 
rily to  the  sentiment  and  imagery  immediately  repre- 
sented in  the  literary  production.  What  this  sentiment 
and  imagery  is  suggestive  of  is  usually  left  to  be  de- 
termined from  each  one's  own  interest  and  experience. 
In  general,  however,  the  suggestive  denotes  such  a 
portrayal  of  details  as  by  means  of  the  association  of 
ideas  shall  give  glimpses  into  the  depths  of  human  char- 
acter, shall  fill  the  mind  with  a  sense  of  the  illimitable 
nature  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  shall  perhaps  awaken 
half-slumbering  longings  and  ideals. 

Suggestion  doth  assign  and  direct  us  to  certain  marks  or  places, 
which  may  excite  our  mind  to  return  and  produce  such  knowl- 
edge as  it  hath  formerly  collected,  to  the  end  we  may  make  use 
thereof.  1605.  BACON,  Ad.  of  L.,  p.  156.  (Oxford,  1891.) 

Painting  gives  the  object  itself.  .  .  .  Poetry  suggests  what  exists 
out  of  it  in  any  manner  connected  with  it.  But  this  last  is  the 
proper  province  of  the  imagination.  1818.  HAZLITT,  Eng. 
Poets,  p.  14. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  poetry  of  Milton  is  the  ex- 
treme remoteness  of  the  associations  by  means  of  which  it  acts 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     291 

on  the  reader.     Its  effect  is  produced  not  so  much  by  what  it 
expresses  as  by  what  it  suggests.     1825.     MACAULAY,  I.,  p.  22. 
The  truth  is,  painting  and  sculpture  are  literally  imitative  arts, 
while   poetry   is   metaphorically  so.  ...  I   would  rather  call 
poetry  a  suggestive  art.     1825.     BKYANT,  Prose,  I.,  p.  5. 
Descriptive  poets  .  .  .  forget  that  it  is  by  suggestion,  not  cumu- 
lation, that  profound  impressions  are  made  upon  the  imagina- 
tion.    1868..  LOWELL,  III.,  p.  42. 

In  Measure  for  Measure  .  .  .  we  have  a  real  example  of  that  sort 
of  writing  which  is  sometimes  described  as  suggestive,  and  which 
by  the  help  of  certain  subtly  calculated  hints  only  brings  into 
distinct  shape  the  reader's  own  half-developed  imaginings.  1874. 
PATER,  Ap.,  p.  179. 
Suitable  (IV.)  :  Walton  to  present. 

Strokes  of  levity  .  .  .  unsuited  to  so  grave  and  majestic  a  poem. 

J.  WAIITON,  L,  p.  391. 
Sumptuous  (V.) :  Imaginative  and  sumptuous.      ROSSETTI,  Lives, 

p.  31. 
Sunny  (XIV.)    Swin.,  Gosse. 

Bright  and  sunny.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  46. 
Superb  (XXII.)  a:  Wil.,  Swin.,  Gosse.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  44. 
Superficial  (XX.)  :  Gib.  to  present. 

Sidney  Smith's  mirth  lies  in  the  superficial  relations  of  phenomena. 

BAGEHOT,  Lit.  St.,  p.  136. 
Superfluous  :  Ascham  to  present. 

When  superfluousness  of  words  is  not  occasioned  by  overflowing 
animal  spirits  .  .  .  there  is  no  worse  sign  for  a  poet.  HUNT, 
Im.  &  Fancy,  p.  41. 

Supple  (XVIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  60. 
Supreme  (XXII.) :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  72. 
Sure  (VIII.)  :  Hal.  to  present. 

Sure  facility  ...  of  Waller.  HALLAM,  IV.,  p.  233. 
Shakespeare  himself,  divine  as  are  his  gifts,  has  not,  of  the  marks 
of  the  master, .  this  one :  perfect  sureness  of  hand  in  his  style. 
Alone  of  English  poets  .  .  .  Milton  has  it ;  he  is  our  one  .  .  . 
first  rate  master  in  the  grand  style.  M.  ARNOLD,  Mixed  Essays, 
p.  300. 

Surging    (XVIII.) :    Free,  surging,  melodious.      ROSSETTI,  Life  of 
Keats,  p.  179. 


292     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Sustained  (XIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Sustained  and  continuous.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  16. 
Sweeping  (XIII.) :  J.  Wil.  to  present. 
SWEET  (X.) :  Cam.  to  present.     Much  in  use. 

I.  Often  the  term  "sweet"  denotes  the  pleasing  and 
attractive  in  composition  attained  through  delicacy  and 
tranquil  feeling,  rather  than  by  any   manifestation  of 
strength  in  the  thought  or  emotion. 

llaleigh's  Cynthia  ...  a  fine  and   sweet  invention.     HARVEY, 

Malone's  Shakespeare,  II.,  p.  579. 
The  uttering  sweetly  and  properly  the  conceits  of  the  mind  .  .  . 

is  the  end  of  speech.     SIDNEY,  p.  55. 
Sweet  expressions  of  love.     WALTON,  Lives,  p.  121. 

II.  More  usually,  however,  sweetness  has  direct  ref- 
erence to  the  sound,  to  the  musical   properties  of  the 
composition.      Sweetness  represents  that  which  in  the 
sound   charms   and   attracts,   a   certain   smoothness,   a 
gentle   rhythm,   and   a   harmony   unbroken   by    jar   or 
discord. 

Harmonious  sweetness.     DRYDEN,  YII ,  p.  229. 

Pope's  versification  is  tiresome  from  its  excessive  sweetness  and 

uniformity.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  18. 

Sweetness  ...  a  smooth  progression  between  variety  and  same- 
ness, and  a  voluptuous  sense  of  the  continuous.     HUNT,  Im.  & 
Fancy,  p.  37. 
Sweet  and  manifold  in   cadence.      SAINTSBURY,   Hist.  Fr.  Lit., 

p.  63. 
Swelling  (X.) :  Sid.  to  present. 

Swelling  style.     DRYDEN,  VI.,  p.  407. 
Swift  (XVIII.)  :  Campion  to  present. 

The  verse  moves  swiftly  enough.     BROOKE,  Tennyson,  p.  114. 
Symbolical  (XVI.) :  External  appearances  .  .  .  symbols  of  internal 
sentiment.     HAZLITT,  Eng.  Poets,  p.  31. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      293 

Symmetry  (II.):  Campion  to  present. 

Symmetry  more  than  sensation  is  the  effect  which  has  an  attraction 

for  his  genius.     MOULTON,  Shak.,  etc. 
Sympathy  (XV.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

A  strange  mixture  of  satire  and  sympathy  in  all  Crabbe's  produc- 
tions.    JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  354. 

Sympathetic  humor.     BURROUGHS,  Birds  and  Poets,  p.  61. 
In  Burns  ...  a  sympathy  so  vivid  and  intimate  as  to  pass  con- 
tinually  into   the   domain   of  imagination.      ROSSETTI,  Lives, 
p.  200. 

Symphonical  (X.)  :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.  p.  11. 
Systematic  (II.) :  Systematic  as  a  country  cemetery.     LOWELL,  IV., 

p.  274. 

Tact  (V.)  b  :  Jef.  to  present. 
Talent  (V.)£:  S.  John,  to  present 
Tame  (XII.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Tameness  and  poorness  of  the  serious  style  of  Addison  and  Swift. 

JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  167- 
Tangible  (III.) :  Eos.  to  present. 

No   stable    or    tangible    sense.      ROSSETTI,   Pref.   to  Blake,   p. 

cxxii. 
The  pathos  is  more  direct  and  tangible.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  26. 
Tardy  (XVIIL):  Jef.,  How. 

Tardy,  laborious,  and  obscure.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  43. 
TASTE   (XXII.)  b. 

The  term  "taste"  has  always  represented  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  both  native  sensibility  and  an  instinct  which 
AS  a  desire  has  been  acquired  and  cultivated  by  the 
and  striking,  study  of  literature  already  written.  Until 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  were  two 
uses  of  the  term  "taste."  Often  the  term  was  em- 
ployed to  characterize  a  crude  preference  for  the  more 
glaring  and  startling  features  of  literature,  a  perverse 
relish  for  literary  work  which  was  not  in  accord  with 


294      A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

the   principles   of  literature   already    well    established. 
This  was  usually  characterized  as  "  false "  taste. 

Style  seems  to  be  an  ornament  adapted  to  vulgar  tastes.  ARIS- 
TOTLE, Rhet.,  p.  204. 

A  wrong  artificial  taste  .  .  .  formed  .  .  .  upon  little  fanciful  au- 
thors and  writers  of  epigram.  1710.  ADDISON,  II.,  p.  374. 

Those  intrigues  and  adventures  to  which  the  romantic  taste  has 
confined  modern  tragedy.  TICKELL,  in  Arber's  Garner,  VI., 
p.  520. 

More  often  taste  denoted  the  appreciation  of  liter- 
ature in  so  far  as  it  agreed  with  the  most  approved 
AS  a  cuiti-  an(*  mos^  firmly  established  methods  of  lit- 
oftiM! 'pro86  erary  composition.  This  was  "true"  taste, 
or  merely  taste  without  any  qualifying  ad- 
jective. Usually,  however, both  a  "false"  and  a  "true" 
taste  were  recognized  and  were  kept  distinct  from  each 
other. 

Metaphors  must  be  constructed  on  principles  of  analogy  (propor- 
tion), else  they  will  be  sure  to  appear  in  bad  taste.  ARISTOTLE, 
Rhet.,  p.  210. 

Taste  is  not  to  conform  to  the  art,  but  the  art  to  the  taste.  1710. 
ADDISON,  II.,  p.  292. 

A  just  taste  cannot  be  obtained  without  the  antecedent  labour  of 
criticism.  SHAFTESBURY,  III.,  pp.  114,  115. 

It  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  man  who  has  a  just  taste  without  a  sound 
understanding.  1742.  D.  HUME,  I.,  p.  278. 

Tastes  unformed  from  the  true  relish  of  possibility,  propriety,  sim- 
plicity, and  nature.  1756.  J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  21. 

Taste  comes  from  two  sources  :  — 

1.  Sensibility,  —  if  lacking,  one  wants  taste. 

2.  Judgment, — if  lacking,  one  has  bad  taste.     1756.     BURKE. 
p.  64. 

During  the  present  century  there  are  also  two  uses 
of  the  term.     Often    it   denotes  the    acquired   feelings 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       295 

and  instincts  which  prompt  to  a  judgment  Asconven- 
of  literature  in  accordance  with  literary  prin-  appreciation3" 
ciples  already  well  established.  In  this  sense  of  the 
term,  taste  has  almost  uniformly  been  regarded  as  an 
inadequate  test  of  the  aesthetic  value  of  a  literary  pro- 
duction. It  is  wholly  conservative,  and  opposes  all 
progressive  literary  tendencies. 

It  is  for  the  most  part  in  our  skill  in  manners,  and  in  the  observ- 
ances of  time  and  place,  and  of  decency  in  general  .  .  .  that 
what  is  called  taste  .  .  .  consists,  and  which  is  in  reality  no 
other  than  a  more  refined  judgment.  1756.  BURKE,  I.,  p.  63. 

Every  author,  as  far  as  he  is  great  and  at  the  same  time  original, 
has  had  the  task  of  creating  the  taste  by  which  he  is  to  be  en- 
joyed. 1802.  WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  125. 

Proportion  and  congruity  .  .  .  are  subjects  upon  which  taste  may 
be  trusted,  since  .  .  .  the  mind  is  then  passive.  ID.,  p.  127. 

Taste  ...  is  representative  of  our  past  conscious  reasonings,  in- 
sights, and  conclusions.  1817.  COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  428. 

Classical  taste  and  sound  reason.  1838-39.  HALLAM,  II., 
pp.  23,  24. 

Good  taste  is  an  excellent  thing  when  it  confines  itself  to  its  own 
rightful  province  of  the  proprieties.  1871.  LOWELL,  IV., 
p.  21. 

Taste  ...  is  in  reality  condensed  experience.  .  .  .  But  the  judi- 
cial attitude  of  mind  is  itself  a  barrier  to  appreciation,  as  being 
opposed  to  that  delicacy  of  receptiveness  which  is  a  first  condi- 
tion of  sensibility  to  impressions  of  literature  and  art.  MOUL- 
TON,  Shakespeare  as  a  Dramatic  Artist  pp.  6,  7. 

-More  often,  perhaps,  taste  has  represented  both  cul- 
tivated   instinct    and    native    sensibility,  —  sensibility 

which   is   open   to   impressions   from   actual  AS  a  culti- 
vated, devel- 

life  as  well  as  from  literature,  and  which  is  oping  appre- 
ciation of 

susceptible  to  new  forms  of  beauty  as  well  literature. 

as  to  those  which  are  already  familiar.     Used  in  this 


290       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

sense,  taste   is  the  exact  measure  of   the  extent   and 
limits  of   literary   art   at   any   given   stage   of   its   de 
velopment. 

A  strong  imagination,  the  parent  of  what  we  call  true  taste.  1751. 
HURD,  I.,  p.  282. 

The  principal  ingredient  in  the  composition  of  taste  is  a  natural 
sensibility.  1761.  GOLDSMITH,  L,  p.  324. 

One  .  .  .  must  have  sensibility  before  he  feels  those  emotions  with 
which  taste  receives  the  impressions  of  beauty.  1761.  GOLD- 
SMITH, I.,  p.  327. 

Virtue  and  taste  are  built  upon  the  same  foundation  of  sensibility. 
ID.,  p.  331. 

Could  we  teach  taste  or  genius  by  rules,  they  would  be  no  longer 
taste  and  genius.  J.  REYNOLDS,  I.,  p.  56. 

Taste  is  nothing  but  sensibility  to  the  different  degrees  and  kinds 
of  excellence  in  the  works  of  art  or  nature.  1819.  HAZLITT, 
Sk.  &  Es.,  pp.  158,  159. 

I  would  reverse  the  rule,  and  estimate  every  one's  pretensions  to 
taste  by  the  degree  of  their  sensibility  to  the  highest  and  most 
varied  excellence.  1819.  ID.,  p.  164. 

Taste  relates  to  that  which  ...  is  calculated  to  give  pleasure. 
Now  to  know  what  is  calculated  to  give  pleasure,  the  way  is  to 
inquire  what  does  give  pleasure :  so  that  taste  is,  after  all,  much 
more  a  matter  of  fact  and  less  of  theory  than  might  be  imagined. 
ID.,  p.  170. 

Taste  is  a  sense  to  discern  and  a  heart  to  love  and  reverence  all 
beauty,  order,  goodness.  1827.  CARLYLE,  I.,  p.  34. 

Taste :  a  .  .  .  noble  sense  of  harmony  and  high  poetic  propriety. 
1867.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  141. 

Into  the  mind  sensitive  to  "form,"  a  flood  of  random  sounds, 
colours,  incidents,  is  ever  penetrating  from  the  world  without, 
to  become,  by  sympathetic  selection,  a  part  of  its  very  structure, 
and  in  turn,  the  visible  vesture  and  expression  of  that  other 
world  it  sees  so  steadily  within,  nay,  already,  with  a  partial 
conformity  thereto,  to  be  refined,  enlarged,  corrected  at  a  hun- 
dred points;  and  it  is  just  there,  just  at  those  doubtful  points. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       297 

that  the  function  of  style,  as  tact  or  taste,  intervenes.     1888. 
PATER,  Ap.,  pp.  28,  29. 

The  truth  is  that  taste,  however  responsive  to  cultivation,  is  in- 
born, as  spontaneous  as  insight,  and  indeed  with  an  insight  of 
its  own.     1892.     STEDMAN,  Nat.  of  Poetry,  p.  47. 
Tautology    (XIX.)  b :    Bentley  to   present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  188. 
Tawdry  (V.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Frivolous  and  tawdry  ornament.     MACAULAY,  IV.,  p.  380. 
Technical :  Gib.  to  present. 

The  diapason  closing  full  in  man.     (Dryden.) 
"Diapason"  is  too  technical.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  324. 
Technique :  Sir  Thomas  Browne  .  .  .  stood  in  need  of  technique,  of 
a  formed  taste  in  literature,  of  a  literary  architecture.     PATER, 

Ap.,  etc.,  p.  130. 
Tedious  (XXII.)  b :  Gos.  to  present. 

Avoid  prolixity  and  tediousness.     GASCOIGNE,  pp.  39,  40. 

The  tedious  historic  style.     CAMPBELL,  I.,  p.  14. 

Scott  was  often  tediously  analytic.     HOWELLS,  Grit.  &  Fiction, 

p.  21. 

Tedium :  Bombast  and  tedium.    SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  69. 
Telling :  Low.,  Gosse. 

Original  and  telling  in  construction.     GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent. 

St.,  p.  294. 
TEMPERATE  (XIX.)  b\  Ascham,  Jef.  to  present. 

The  direct  significance  of  the  term  is  chiefly  nega- 
tive. Temperance  is  the  absence  of  excess  in  any 
form.  But  it  almost  invariably  denotes  a  moderation 
of  passion  or  feeling,  and  thus  it  becomes  associated 
with  the  judicious,  with  propriety,  with  all  the  terms 
that  might  be  classified  under  the  conception  of  the 
classical. 

Temperance  is  a  measuring  of  affections  according  to  the  will  of 
reason.  T.  WILSON,  Tibet.,  p.  38. 

Temperance  and  propriety  of  all  the  delineations  of  passion.  .  JEF- 
FREY, I.,  p.  394. 


298       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Virgil  ...  is  temperate,  chaste,  judicious.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  473. 

Temperance  of  tone  .  .  .  makes  The  Deserted  Village  classical. 

LOWELL,  IV.,  p.  370. 
Tender :  Dry.  to  present. 

A  delicacy  and  tenderness.     DE  QUINCEY,  III.,  p.  37. 
Tenuity :  Tenuity  and  caprice.     ROSSETTI,  Pref.  to  Blake,  p.  cxxxi. 
Terrible  (XII.)  :  Scott  to  present. 

The  tragic  and  the  terrible.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  23. 
Terse  (XIX.)  b :   Dekker  to  present. 

Weight  and  terseness  of  his  maxims.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  349. 
Theatrical:  Swin.,  Dow. 

Theatrical  observance  of  effect.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  57. 
Thin :  Whip,  to  present. 

Light  and  thin.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  £  Rev.,  II.,  p.  57. 
Thoughtful  (XX.)  :  Whip,  to  present.     Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  241. 
Thrilling  (XXII.)£:    Swin.,  Gosse.      Swinburne,   A  St.    of  B.  J., 

p.  59. 
Tightness :    Tightness   of  phrase.      GOSSE,    Hist.   Eiig.   Lit.,   III., 

p.  286. 

Timid  (XIV.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  I.,  p.  45. 
Tinsel  (V.):  Tinsel  and  embroidery.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  412. 
Tiresome  (XXII.)  b :  T.  War.  to  present. 

Tiresome  harmony.     STEPHEN,  I.,  p.  135. 

Titanic :  A  Titanic  or  Cyclopean  style.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  98. 
Tone  (XIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Tone,  not  words,  is  what  distinguishes  the  master.     LOWELL,  III., 

p.  41. 

Topographical :  Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  89. 
Tormented  :  Homer's  plain  thought  is  tormented,  as  the  French  would 

say.    M.  ARNOLD,  Gel.  Lit.,  p.  166. 
Tortuous  (II.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

Tortuous,  long-winded  verbosities.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  82. 
Tortured  (II.) :  J.  War.,  Gosse. 

Tortured,  fantastical,  rhetorical.      GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III., 

p.  77. 
Touching  (XVII.)  b:  Blair  to  present. 

Sweet  and  touching.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  464. 
Tough:  B.   Jonson's  tough  diction.      WHIFFLE,   Es.   &   Rev.,    II., 

p.  33. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       299 

TRAGIC  (XVII.)  6:  K.  James  to  present. 

I.  As  a  purely  classifying  term,  tragedy  gradually 
became  widely  distinguished  from  comedy,  giving  rise 
to  an  intermediate  form  of  the  drama  between  them, 
tragi-comedy.      (See  "  Comedy.")      As  thus  employed, 
the  tragic  had  no  immediate  critical  significance. 

Tragedy  represents  men  better  than  they  are,  comedy  worse. 
ARISTOTLE,  Rhet,  p.  9. 

II.  Recently,  the  word  has  come  somewhat  into  use 
as  an  active  critical  term,  representing  that  which  is 
both  striking  and  strongly  pathetic,  which,  by  arousing 
the  imagination  and  sympathies  of  the  reader,  reveals 
the  profundity  and  sublimity  of  human  character. 

Dante  .  .  .  did  not  understand  by  the  tragic  style  what  we  under- 
stand by  it,  but  merely  the  style  of  grand  and  sublime  poems, 
such  as  the  jEneid.     T.  ARNOLD,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  498. 
Humour  .  .  .  united   with  his   tragic   and   imaginative   powers, 

makes  Shakespeare.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  78. 
Trailing  (XVIII.):    Heavy  and  trailing.      M.  ARNOLD,   Gel.   Lit., 

p.  147. 
Transcendental :  Low.  to  present. 

In  theory,  the  transcendental  is  that  which  can  be 
represented  only  indirectly  by  means  of  symbols  or  by 
suggestion ;  that  which  completely  surpasses  adequate 
explanation  or  definition.  In  actual  criticism  it  is  usu- 
ally associated  with  the  vague  and  obscure. 

To  the  transcendentalist  .  .  .  the  origin  and  existence  of  Nature 
is  greatly  simplified;  the  old  hostility  of  matter  is  at  an  end,  for 
matter  is  itself  annihilated.  CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  205. 

All  poetry  must  to  a  great  extent  be  transcendental.  WHIPPLE, 
Es.  &  Rev.,  p.  229. 


300     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Transcendental  subtlety  of  "  No,  Time,  tliou  sbalt  not  boast  that  I 

do  change,"  etc.     LOWELL,  III.,  p.  61. 

The  word  transcendental  may  be  used  in  both  a  definite  and  a 
vague  sense ;  in  a  definite  sense  as  opposed  to  the  empirical  way 
of  thinking.  .  .  .  The  transcendentalist  thinker  believes  that  the 
mind  contributes  to  its  own  stores  ideas  or  forms  of  thought  not 
derived  from  experience.  DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  47. 

Transitory  (XL)-'  Words.,  Ros.     Wordsworth,  II.,  p.  63. 

Translucent  (III.):  Simple  and  translucent.  STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets, 
p.  54. 

Transparent  (III.)  :  T.  War.  to  present.  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St., 
p.  154. 

Tremulous :  Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  68. 

Trenchant  (XX.)  b :  Trenchant  concision  of  style.  SWINBURNE, 
Mis  ,  p.  319. 

Trite  (IX.):  J.  War.  to  present. 

In  a  court  poem  all  sliould  be  trite  and  on  an  approved  model. 
HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  141. 

Triumphant :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  119. 

Trivial  (XI.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Too  trivial  and  common  to  excite  any  emotion  whatever.  BRYANT, 
Prose,  I.,  p.  13. 

Tropical  (XIX.)  6:  In  the  Religio  Medici  .  .  .  are  many  things  de- 
livered rhetorically,  many  expressions  therein  merely  tropical. 
1635.  Sir  T.  BROWNE,  Intr.  to  Religio  Medici. 

Trumpet-notes  :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  147. 

Trumpet-tones  (X.):  Ros.     Dowdeu,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  81. 

TRUTH  (VIII.). 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
term  "  truth "  usually  represented  something  external 
AS  historical  ^°  ^ne  min(^9  something  more  or  less  histori- 
cal in  its  nature.  In  this  general  use  of  the 
term,  two  special  meanings  are  to  be  distinguished. 
Often  truth  was  associated  with  probability,  or  was 
placed  in  opposition  to  fable  or  fiction.  When  thus 
employed,  the  term  signified  that  which  had  actually 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     301 

occurred  in  the  past,  historical  events  considered  ex- 
ternally, rather  than  as  to  their  moral  and  psychical 
significance. 

But  now  it  may  be  alleged  that  if  this  imagining  of  matters  be  so 
fit  for  the  imagination,  then  must  the  historian  needs  surpass, 
who  bringeth  you  images  of  true  matters,  such  as  indeed  were 
done,  and  not  such  as  fantastically  or  falsely  may  be  suggested 
to  have  been  done.  1583.  SIDNEY,  p.  18.  (Cook.) 

The  great  art  of  poets  is  either  the  adorning  and  beautifying  of 
truth,  or  the  inventing  pleasing  and  probable  fictions.  DEY- 
DEN,  XV.,  p.  408. 

For  as  truth  is  the  bound  of  historical,  so  the  resemblance  of  truth 
is  the  utmost  limit  of  poetical  liberty.  1650.  HOBBES,  IV., 
pp.  451,  452. 

We  can  always  feel  more  than  we  can  imagine,  and  .  .  .  the  most 
artful  fiction  must  give  way  to  truth.  1753.  S.  JOHNSON,  IV., 
p.  79. 

Shakespeare's  plots  are  generally  borrowed  from  novels.  .  .  .  The 
mind  which  has  feasted  on  the  luxurious  wonders  of  fiction,  has 
no  taste  for  the  insipidity  of  truth.  1765.  ID.,  V.,  p.  125. 

The  portrait  .  .  .  has  unrivalled  force  and  beauty,  with  historic 
truth.  1820.  HAZLITT,  Age  of  EL,  p.  129. 

Occasionally,  however,  even  to  the  present,  truth  has 
denoted  not  something  historical,  but  whatever  exists 
at  any  given  time,  and  can  be  considered  as  ^  curreilt 
an  actually  ascertained  fact.      But  external  fact* 
truth  as  an  ascertained  fact,  and  truth  as  a  historical 
fact  are  almost  identical  with  each  other.     The  external 
fact,  in  order  to  be  ascertained,  must  represent  a  com- 
pleted  experience,   and    has    thus    become    historical. 
Hence  it  is  often  impossible  to  distinguish  this  use  of 
the  term  "  truth "  from  the  preceding  use. 

Natural,  just,  and  true.     RYMER,  2d  Pt.,  p.  79. 

Poetry  is  the  art  of  uniting  pleasure  with  truth,  by  calling  iraagi- 


302     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

nation    to    the  help  of  reason.      1781.      S.   JOHNSON,   VII., 

p.  125. 
I  cannot  agree  that  this  exactness  of  detail  produces  heaviness ;  on 

the  contrary,  it  gives  an  appearance  of  truth.     1819.     HAZLITT, 

Eng.  Cora.  Writers,  p.  159. 
I  confess  that  I  do  not  care  to  judge  any  work  of  the  imagination 

without  first  of  all  applying  this  test,  Is  it  true?     HOWELLS, 

Grit.  &  Fiction,  p.  99. 

Since  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century 
truth  has  usually  indicated  some  capacity  or  power  of 
AS  esthetic  ^e  m™&-  I*1  the  early  portion  of  the  pres- 
prmcipie.  enj.  century  truth  very  often  represented  the 
intuitive  perception  of  beauty,  the  aesthetic  apprehen- 
sion of  more  essential  relations  in  the  ordinary  events 
of  experience  than  ordinary  experience  itself  affords. 

All  beauty  is  truth.     SHAFTESBURY,  I.,  pp.  110,  111. 

Not  historically  true,  but  poetically  beautiful.  1756.  J.  WAR- 
TON,  I.,  p.  36. 

In  those  species  of  poetry  that  address  themselves  to  the  heart, 
and  would  obtain  their  end,  not  through  the  imagination,  but 
through  the  passions,  there  the  liberty  of  transgressing  nature 
is  infinitely  restrained;  and  poetical  truth  is,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, almost  as  severe  a  thing  as  historical.  1762. 
HURD,  IV.,  p.  325. 

What  the  imagination  seizes  as  beauty  must  be  truth,  whether  it 
existed  before  or  not.  1817.  KEATS,  Letters,  pp.  41,  42. 

To  the  genuine  artist,  truth,  nature,  and  beauty  are  almost  differ- 
ent names  for  the  same  thing.  1817.  HAZLITT,  Round  Table, 
p.  106. 

(Of  Wordsworth.)  The  force,  the  originality,  the  absolute  truth 
and  identity  with  which  he  feels  some  things  makes  him  indif- 
ferent to  so  many  others.  1825.  ID.,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  163. 

During  the  present  century  truth  has  also  denoted 
the  ethical  principles  of  conduct,  the  instincts  and  ira- 


A   ti  IS  TORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       302 

pulses  which   lead   to  right  action.     It   is  usually  as- 
sumed,  and   often   asserted,   that   aesthetic   truth    and 
moral  truth  are  fundamentally  one  and  the  As  moral 
same ;  that  the  ethical  impulse  to  do  and  the  v*™^1*' 
aesthetic  impulse  to  create  are,  to  a  certain  extent  at 
least,  identical  with  each  other.     The  tendency  to  thus 
identify  aesthetic  with  moral  truth  has  been  more  pro- 
nounced during  the  latter  portion  of  the  century  than 
during  the  earlier  portion. 

To  give  to  universally  received  truths  a  pathos  and  spirit,  which 
shall  readmit  them  into  the  soul  like  revelations  of  the  moment. 
1811.  WORDSWORTH,  II.,  p.  63. 

Rescues  admitted  truths  from  the  neglect  caused  by  the  very  cir- 
cumstance of  their  universal  admission.  1825.  COLERIDGE,  L, 
p.  117. 

Moral  truths  which  find  an  echo  in  our  bosoms.  1825.  BRYANT, 
L,  p.  12. 

The  poetry  of  Burns  .  .  .  has,  beyond  all  that  ever  was  written, 
this  greatest  of  all  merits,  intense,  life-pervading,  and  life-breath- 
ing truth.  1841.  WILSON,  VII.,  p.  3. 

It  is  astonishing  how  large  a  harvest  of  new  truths  would  be 
reaped  simply  through  the  accident  of  a  man's  feeling,  or  being 
made  to  feel  more  deeply  than  other  men.  1845.  DE  QUINCEY, 
XL,  p.  315. 

Truth  to  nature  can  be  reached  ideally,  never  historically ;  it  must 
be  a  study  from  the  life,  and  not  from  the  scholiasts.  1866. 
LOWELL,  Prose,  II.,  p.  128. 

Your  historian  with  absolutely  truthful  intention  .  .  .  must  needs 
select,  and  in  selecting  assert  something  of  his  own  humour, 
something  that  comes  not  of  the  world  without  but  of  a  vision 
within.  1888.  PATER,  Ap.,  p.  5. 

All  beauty  is  in  the  long  run  only  finesse  of  truth.    ID.,  p.  6. 

There  is  no  beauty  worthy  of  the  name  without  truth.     J.  A. 

SYMONDS,  Es.,  Sp.,  &  Sug.,  p.  104. 
Tumid  (XIX.)  b\  T.  War.  to  present. 

Ridiculously  tumid.     S.  JOHNSON,  VIII.,  p.  210. 


304       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Tuneful  (X.)  :  Swin.  to  present.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  219. 
Tuneless  (X.) :  Swinburne,  Mis.,  p.  224. 
Turbid  (II.)  :  Lan.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  65. 
Turgid  (X.)  :   S.  John,  to  present. 

There   is   nothing  turgid  in    his    dignity.       S.   JOHNSON,   III., 

pp.  83,  84. 
Turn:  Words,  to  present. 

Dramatic  turn  of  plot.     WORDSWORTH,  III.,  p.  303. 
Ugly  (XXII.)  b :  Ugliness  and  coarseness.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  178. 
Uncertain  (III.):  S.  John,  to  present.     Saintsbury,  Es.  in  Eng.  Lit., 

p.  287. 
Unconscious  (VII.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Composed,  calm,  unconscious.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  225. 
UNDERSTANDING  (XX.). 

The  word  has  perhaps  never  been  employed  as  an 
active  critical  term.  It  has,  however,  exercised  a  con- 
siderable schematizing  influence  over  active  critical 
terms,  being  considered  as  an  ally,  and  in  a  sense  as 
the  source  of  taste,  of  proportion,  and  of  external  pro- 
priety. It  has  been  placed  in  opposition  occasionally 
to  reason,  and  always  to  the  imagination.  The  word 
has  not  been  in  much  favor  with  the  critics  during  the 
present  century. 

It  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  man  who  has  a  just  taste  without  a  sound 
understanding.  HUME,  I.,  p.  278. 

Whenever  the  wisdom  of  our  Creator  intended  that  we  should  be 
affected  with  anything  ...  he  endued  it  with  powers  and  prop- 
erties that  prevent  the  understanding,  and  even  the  will ;  which, 
seizing  upon  the  senses  and  imagination,  captivate  the  soul  be- 
fore the  understanding  is  ready  either  to  join  with  them  or  to 
oppose  them.  BURKE. 

Enthusiasm  sublimates  the  understanding  into  the  imagination. 
LOWELL,  Lat.  Lit.  Es.,  I.,  p.  196. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.       305 

Unearthly :  Mac.,  Whip. 

Wild,  weird,  unearthly.     WHIFFLE,  Am.  Lit.,  p.  87. 
Unexpected  (IX.)  :  J.  War.  to  present. 

Wit  discloses  .  .  .  some  unexpected  resemblance  or  connection. 

HUNT,  Wit  and  Humour,  p.  8. 

Ungainly  (II.)  :  Mor.     Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  II.,  p.  155. 
Unhewn  (II.):  Rough  and  unhewn  plots.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St., 

p.  283. 

Unicity  (XIII.) :  Saintsbury,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit,,  p.  291. 
Uniform  (II.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

There  is  no  uniformity  in  the  design  of  Spenser.     DE.YDEN,  XIII., 

p.  17. 

The  uniformity  of  cadence  may  conspire  with  the  lusciousness  of 
style  to  produce  a  sense  of  satiety  in  the  reader.  HALLAM,  II., 
p.  196. 

The  needful  qualities  for  a  fit  prose  are  regularity,  uniformity,  pre- 
cision, balance.     M.  ARNOLD,  Cr.  Es.,  2d  S.,  p.  39. 
Unique  (IX.) :  Jef.  to  present. 

Swift  is  unique  and  inimitable.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  168. 
UNITY  (XIII.). 

Previous  to  the  present  century  the  term  "unity" 
was  employed  in  criticism  chiefly  to  denote  certain 
formal  rules  and  methods  of  plot  construe-  AS  continuity 
jtion^  The  action  represented  must  be  based  effect, 
upon  a  single  story  or  fable ;  the  scene  of  the  action 
must  not  be  changed ;  and  the  time  included  in  the 
representation  must  be  confined  as  nearly  as  possible 
to  a  single  day  of  twenty-four  hours.  These  rules, 
however,  were  always  put  upon  the  defensive  in  Eng- 
lish criticism.  The  best  dramatists  did  not  conform 
to  them.  This  use  of  the  term  had  more  influence  in 
theoretical  discussion  than  it  had  in  actual  criticism. 

Unity :  requires  emphasis  of  the  general  plot.  DRYDEN,  XIII., 
p.  109. 

20 


306      A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 

The  old  Scotch  ballad  Child  Maurice  is  divine.  Aristotle's  best 
rules  are  observed  in  it  in  a  manner  that  shews  the  author  never 
had  heard  of  Aristotle.  It  begins  in  the  fifth  act  of  the  play. 
You  may  read  it  two  thirds  through  without  guessing  what  it  is 
about ;  and  yet  when  you  come  to  the  end,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  understand  the  whole  story.  1758.  GRAY,  II.,  p.  316. 

The  Faery  Queen  .  .  .  has  that  sort  of  unity  and  simplicity  which 
results  from  its  nature.  1762.  HURD,  IV.,  p.  279. 

The  unity  of  action  ...  is  often  found  in  Gothic  fables.  ID., 
p.  308. 

The  unity  of  action :  The  soul  seeks  it  in  all  fiction  and  in  all 
truth.  1831.  WILSON,  VIIL,  p.  397. 

The  "  Unities  "  inapplicable  to  modern  subjective  literature.  ID., 
pp.  402-4. 

Occasionally  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  during  jill  of  the  present  century, 
AS  continuity  the  term  "unity"  has  represented  an  activity 

of  thought 

and  feeling,  in  the  jpind  either  of  the  author  or  of  the 
reader;  if  in  the  mind  of  the  author,  the  unifying  prin- 
ciple is  the  imagination ;  if  in  the  mind  of  the  reader, 
the  unity  is  one  of  mental  impression,  of  emotional 
effect.  But  whether  referring  to  the  active  creation 
of  literature,  or  to  its  more  passive  appreciation,  unity 
is  never  regarded  as  depending  upon  Jpj^n^ljregularity: 
within  the  composition  itself.  Unity  represents  an 
imaginative  blending  of  the  different  parts  of  a  com- 
position with  one  ^another,  —  a  continuity  of  thought 
fegling. 

Instead  of  unity  of  action,  I  much  prefer  the  words  homogeneity, 
proportionateness,  and  totality  of  interest.  1810.  COLERIDGE, 
IV.,  p.  110. 

Lamb  .  .  .  had  more  sympathy  with  imagination  where  it  gathers 
into  the  intense  focus  of  passionate  phrase,  than  with  that  higher 
form  of  it  where  it  is  the  faculty  that  shapes,  gives  unity  of  de- 
sign, and  balanced  gravitation  of  parts.  1868.  LOWELL,  III.,  p. 30. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.      307 

In  these  later  plays,  unity  is  present  through  the  virtue  of  one  liv- 
ing force,  which  animates  the  whole.  The  unity  is  not  merely 
structural  but  vital.  DOWDEN,  Shak.,  p.  60. 

That  a  play  should  impress  itself  upon  our  minds  as  a  unity  is  only 
another  way  of  saying  that  it  is  a  work  of  art :  it  is  a  different 
thing  when  this  impression  of  unity  seems  to  be  analy  sable, 
and  can  be  wholly  or  partially  formulated  in  words.  1885. 
MOULTON,  Shak.  as  a  Dramatic  Artist,  p.  276. 

Just  there  in  that  vivid  single  impression  left  on  the  mind  when  all 

js  over^  not  in  any  mechanical  limitation  of  time  and  place,  is  the 

secret  of  the  "  unities  "  —  the  true  imaginative  unity  —  of  the 

drama.     1889.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  212.  ~" 

Unshackled:  Free  and  unshackled  movement.      SAINTSBURY,  Hist. 

Eng.  Lit.,  p.  301. 
Unwieldy  (XVIII.)  :  J.  Wil.  to  present. 

Clumsy  and  unwieldy.     WILSON,  VI.,  p.  123. 
Upright:  Swinburne. 

Manful,  straightforward,  and  upright.     SWINBURNE,  A  St.  of  B.  J., 

p.  107. 
Urbanity  (V.) :  Dry.  to  present. 

Urbanity  ...  a  style  of  speaking  which  exhibits  in  the  choice  of 
words,  in  tone,  and  in  manner,  a  certain  taste  of  the  city,  and  a 
tincture  of  erudition  derived  from  conversation  with  the  learned ; 
something,  in  a  word,  of  which  rusticity  is  the  reverse.  QUIN- 
TILIAN,  VI.,  p.  433. 

His  urbanity,  that  is,  his  good  manners,  are  to  be  commended. 
DRYDEN,  XIII.,  p.  88. 

Dr.  Newman's  works  are  stamped  throughout  with  a  literary  qual- 
ity very  rare  in  this  country,  urbanity  .  .  .  the  tone  of  the  city, 
of  the  centre,  the  tone  which  always  aims  at  a  spiritual  and  in- 
tellectual effect,  and  not  excluding  the  use  of  banter,  never  dis- 
joins banter  itself  from  politeness,  from  felicity.  M.  ARNOLD, 
Or.  Es.,  1st  S.,  pp.  60,  67. 

Vacuity :  Hal.,  Swin.     Swinburne,  Chapman,  p.  92. 
Vague  (III.) :  Words,  to  present. 

Vague,  wordy.     GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  8. 
Vain  (XIV.):  A  vain  and  verbose  eloquence.     SWINBURNE,  Es.  & 
St.,  p.  270. 


308       A  HISTORY   OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Vapid  (XII.) :  Mor.,  Gosse. 

Full  of  vapid  conceits.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve,  pp.  64,  65. 
Vaporous:  Shelley's  poetry  is  often  vaporous  and  unreal.     DOWDEN, 

Tr.  &  St.,  p.  102. 
VARIETY  (IX.). 

The  term  "variety"  was  much  used  by  the  critics 
previous  to  the  present  century.  Variety  was  usually 
AS  methodic  regai*ded  as  forming  no  real  contradiction  to 
irregularity.  or(jer  an(|  regularity  ill  literature.  It  rep- 
resented, so  to  speak,  a  regulated  method  of  apparently 
violating  regularity,  a  means  of  avoiding  complete  uni- 
formity and  monotony.  Nature  was  usually  employed 
to  illustrate  the  relations  between  variety  and  regularity, 
but  nothing  could  be  more  methodic  and  orderly  than 
nature  as  it  was  conceived  of  during  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries.  There  is  found  mentioned 
variety  of  language,  of  versification,  of  illustration,  of 
figures  of  speech,  of  images,  of  sentiments,  and  of  plot 
construction ;  but  whether  referring  to  any  part  of  the 
composition,  or  whether  referring  to  it  as  a  whole, 
.variety,  it  was  usually  asserted  or  assumed,  was  en- 
closed and  controlled  by  an  encompassing  regularity. 

The   order   of  the   spheres  .  .  .  variety   of  the   seasons.     1579. 

GOSSON  (Arher),  p.  26. 

The  recreations  of  his  youth  were  poetry,  in  which  he  was  so  happy, 
as  if  nature  and  all  her  varieties  had  been  made  only  to  exercise 
his  sharp  wit  and  high  fancy.     1640.     WALTON,  Lives,  p.  53. 
Stany hurst  .  .  .  revived  by  his  ragged  quill  such  carterly  variety : 
Then  did  he  make  heaven's  vault  to  rebound, 
With  rouuce  robble  bobble, 
Of  ruffe  raffe  roaring, 
With  thick  thwack  thurly  bouncing. 

1590.     NASH,  Lit.  Cen.,  II.,  p.  241. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.      309 

Variety,  as  it  is  too  often  managed,  is  too  often  subject  to  breed 
distraction.  1679.  DRYDEN,  VI.,  pp.  133,  134. 

The  genius  of  the  English  cannot  bear  too  regular  a  play ;  we  are 
given  to  variety.  1690.  ID.,  VII.,  p.  313. 

In  the  end  of  the  sentence,  chiefest  regard  is  to  be  had ;  because 
the  fall  of  the  sentence  is  most  marked,  and  therefore,  lest  it  fall 
out  to  be  harsh  and  unpleasant  both  to  the  mind  and  ear,  there 
must  be  most  variety  and  change.  .  .  .  Now  this  change  must 
not  be  above  six  syllables  from  the  end,  and  that  must  be  set 
down  in  feet  of  two  syllables.  HOBBES,  VI.,  p.  520. 

Triplets  and  Alexandrines,  inserted  by  caprice,  are  interruptions  of 
that  constancy  to  which  science  aspires.  And  though  the  va- 
riety which  they  produce  may  very  justly  be  desired,  yet,  to 
make  our  poetry  exact,  there  ought  to  be  some  stated  mode  of 
admitting  them.  1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  347. 

Occasionally,  however,  variety  referred  not  so  much 
^°  a  ^Gi^liliX^^  as  ^°  a  tfindeucy  of 

the    mind.       When    thus    employed,    variety  As  irre(ru_ 
represented   the    overflow   of   native    mental  larity* 
power  and  energy  in   literary  composition,  the  asser- 
tion of   the  instinctive  sense  of  form  and  method  as 
against   the    rules    and   methods    already    established. 
This  tendency  toward  change  was  sometimes  charac- 
terized as  "Gothic  conceit,"  sometimes  as  "the  exu- 
berance of  genius;"   but  so   long  as  this  change  was 
expressed  chiefly  by  means  of  the  term  "variety,"  it 
was  not  regarded  with  much  favor  in  criticism. 

And  seek  for  that  variety  in  his  own  ideas  which  the  objects  of 
sense  cannot  afford  him.  1750.  S.  JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  30. 

There  is  nothing  more  prejudicial  to  the  grandeur  of  buildings  than 
to  abound  in  angles;  a  fault  obvious  in  many;  and  owing  to  an 
inordinate  thirst  for  variety,  which,  whenever  it  prevails,  is  sure 
to  leave  very  little  true  taste.  1756.  BURKE,  I.,  p.  103. 

Shakespeare,  to  enrich  his  scene  with  that  variety  which  his  exu- 
berant genius  so  largely  supplied.  1749.  HURD,  I.,  p.  69. 


310     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  great  source  of  pleasure  is  variety.     Uniformity  must  tire  at 
last  though  it  be  uniformity  of  excellence.     We  love  to  expect ; 
and  when  expectation  is  disappointed  or  gratified,  we  want  to  be 
again  expecting.     1781.     S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  151. 
Varnished  (V.) :  Whip,  to  present. 

Rhetorical  varnish.     WHIFFLE,  Es.  &  Rev.,  II.,  p.  76. 
Vast  (XI.)  :  Haz.  to  present. 

The  thoughts  are  vast  and  irregular.     HAZLITT,  Age  of  El.,  p.  44. 
Vaulting  (XVIIL):  Dowden. 
Vehemence  (XII.) :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

Vehemence  of  words  full  often  helps  the  matter  forward.     T.  WIL- 
SON, Rhet.,  p.  140. 
The  affection  arousing  the  mind  excites  a  large  stock  of  spirit  and 

vehemence.     HUME,  I.,  p.  262. 
More  vehemence  than  truth,  more  heat  than  light.     M.  ARNOLD, 

Cr.  Es.,  1st  S.,  p.  270. 
Veracity  (VIII.)  :  Emerson  to  present. 

Veracity,  the  truthfulness  to  fact.     DOWDEN,  St.  in  Lit.,  p.  277. 
Verbiage  (XIX.)  b  \  Poe  to  present. 

Prolixity  and  verbiage.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  146. 
Verbose  (XIX.)  b :  Put.  to  present. 

Long-winded  verbosities.     CARLYLE,  II.,  p.  82. 
Verisimilitude  (VIII.) :  Scott  to  present.     (See  Truth.) 

Swift  possessed  the  art  of  verisimilitude.     1814.     SCOTT,  Life  of 

Swift,  p.  457. 

Verisimilitude  or  interest.     JEFFREY,  I.,  p.  211. 
Historical  verisimilitude.     DOWDEN,  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  262. 
Vernacular  (I.):  Haz.  to  present. 

Spenser  ...  a  deliberate  estrangement  from  the  vernacular,  which 

is  of  itself  a  fault.     SATNTSBURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  93. 
Versatile :  Jef.  to  present. 

Spontaneous  versatility  of  genius.     SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  32. 
Verve  (XII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

Verve,  as  the  French  call  it.     DRYDEN,  XIV.,  p.  206. 

Natural  verve  and  imagination.      SAINTSBURY,   Hist.  Fr.   Lit., 

p.  212. 

Much  descriptive  verve.     GOSSE,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St. 
Vicious  (XIV.)  :  Words,  to  present. 

Flaccid,  crude,  and  vicious.     Gosse,  From  Shak.,  etc.,  p.  218. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.       oil 

VIGOUR  (XII.). 

The  term   "vigour"   has   been   frequently  employed 
throughout  all  English  criticism,  yet  there  are  no  defi- 
nitely  marked   periods   in   its   history.      As  AS  effective- 
ness of 
applying  to  the  language  of  a  composition,  language. 

vigour  requires  that  it  be  simple  and  offer  no  difficul- 
ties to  the  ready  comprehension  of  the  thought,  and 
that  the  sound,  "  tone  colour,"  and  nature  of  the  words 
chosen  be  such  as  to  be  suggestive  of  movement  and 
power. 

The  French  set  up  purity  for  the  standard  of  their  language ;  a 
masculine  vigour  is  that  of  ours.  1696.  DRYDEN,  XIV., 
p.  209. 

This  vault  of  air,  this  congregated  ball, 
Self-centred  sun  and  stars,  that  rise  and  fall. 
This  is  vigorous.     1756.     J.  WARTON,  II.,  p.  327. 
Simplicity,  ease,  and  vigour.     MACAULAY,  IV.,  p.  80. 
Simple,  vigorous,  clear.     LANDOR,  III.,  p.  441. 

As  applying  to  the  thought  of  a  composition,  vigour 
represents  a  strength  of   conception   and  vividness  of 
portrayal  which  is  the  result  of  moral  sin-  As  power  of 
cerity,  of  enthusiasm,  of  imagination,  of  pas- 
sion, of  some  mental  power  other  than  mere  intellect. 

The  songs  of  Comus  are  vigorous  and  full  of  imagery.      1781. 

S.  JOHNSON,  VII.,  p.  124. 
The  following  quatrain  is  vigorous  and  animated :  — 

The  ghosts  of  traitors  from  the  bridge  descend, 
With  bold  fanatic  spectres  to  rejoice,  etc. 

ID.,  p.  321. 

Vigour  and  originality.     COLERIDGE,  III.,  p.  589. 
Fertility  and  vigour.     ID.,  IV.,  p.  190. 

There  was  no  freshness  and  no  variety,  and  in  the  absence  of  va- 
riety and  freshness  that  of  vigour  was  necessarily  implied.  1882. 
SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  33, 


312       A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL    TERMS. 

Vigour  reveals  the  tragedy  of  life.  To  one  who  exists  languidly 
from  day  to  day  .  .  .  the  cross  and  passion  of  any  human  heart 
cannot  be  intelligible.  .  .  .  The  heart  must  be  all  alive  and  sen- 
sitive before  the  imagination  can  conceive.  DOWDEN,  Shak., 
pp.  25,  26. 

Vile  (XIV.)  :  Vile  in  taste.  SWINBURNE,  Mis.,  p.  92. 
Violent  (XII.)  :  Pope  to  present.  Pope,  VII.,  p.  401. 
Virile  (XII.) :  Sted.  to  present. 

Virile  barytone  quality.     STEDMAN,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  111. 
Visionary  (VIII.)  :  Haz.  to  present.     Hazlitt,  El.  Lit.,  p.  119. 
Vital  (VII.)  :  Low.  to  present.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  126. 
Vivacious  (XII.)  :  S.  John,  to  present. 
Vivid  (III.)  :  Blair  to  present. 

Spenser's  descriptions  are  exceedingly  vivid  .  .  .  not  picturesque 
.  .  .  but  composed  of  a  wondrous  series  of  images,  as  in  our 
dreams.     COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  249. 
Vociferous:  Stilted  but  not  vociferous.     GOSSE,  From  Shak.,  etc., 

p.  86. 
Volatile  (XVIII.) :  Lan.,  Gosse. 

Volatile  and  sparkling.     GOSSE,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  67. 
Volcanic :  Volcanic  style.     SAINTSBURY,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit.,  p.  575. 
Voluble  (XIX.)  b  ;  Campion  to  present. 

Volubility  and  levity.     S.  JOHNSON,  II.,  p.  447. 
Volume  (XIII.)  b  :  Howells  to  present.     M.  Arnold,  Gel.  Lit.,  p. 

292. 
Voluptuous  (XIV.):  Camp,  to  present. 

A  voluptuous  sense  of  the  continuous.      HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy, 

p.  37. 
VULGAR  (V.):  Har.  to  present. 

I.  A  lack  of  refinement,  delicacy,  and  purity  in  the 
use  of  language,  and  in  the  expression  of  thought  and 
emotion. 

Gallicism  or  vulgarity.     HALLAM,  III.,  p.  374. 

The  vulgarity  which  is  dead  to  form.     PATER,  Ap.,  p.  264. 

II.  Obscenity ;   an   utter  want  of  purity  in  the  ex- 
pression of  feeling  and  emotion. 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     313 

It  is  not  fastidiousness,  but  manliness  and  good  feeling,  which  are 

outraged  by  such  vulgarities.     DE  QUINCEY,  XL,  p.  340. 
Vulgarism  (I.)  :  Gold,  to  present.     Landor,  IV.,  p.  62. 
Wandering  (XVIII.)  :  Jef.  to  present. 

Interminable  wanderings.     JEFFREY,  II.,  p.  373. 
Wanton:  Webbe,  Add.  to  present. 

Ovid  in  his  most  wanton  books  of  love.     WEBBE,  p.  44. 

There  is  a  wantonness  of  diablerie  in  this  incident.     DOWDEN, 

Shak.,  etc.,  p.  186. 
Warmth  (XVIII.) :  Dry.  to  present. 

Warmth  of  circumstance.     BAGEHOT,  I.,  p.  120. 
Waspish  (XIV.):  Waspish  sentiments.     GOSSE,  Life  of  Congreve, 

p.  28. 

Wasteful :  Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  456. 
Weak  (XII.)  :  Ascham  to  present. 

The  abuse  of  strength  is  harshness  and  heaviness ;  the  reverse  of 

it  is  weakness.     HUNT,  Im.  &  Eancy,  p.  34. 
Weighty  (XL)  :  T.  Wil.  to  present. 

Milton  condenses  weight  into  heaviness.     HUNT,  Im.  &  Fancy, 

p.  47. 

Weird:  Poe  to  present.     Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  48. 
Well-considered  (XIX.)  6:  Gosse,  Seventeenth  Cent.  St.,  p.  279. 
Well-languaged :  Well-languaged  Daniel.    WHIPPLE,  El.  Lit.,  p.  362. 
Well-sounding  (X.)  :  Sidney,  p.  47. 
Whimsical  (XIX.)  :  Camp,  to  present.     Gosse,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  III., 

p.  27.  . 

Wholesome  (XIV.)  :  Lamb  to  present.     Lowell,  III.,  p.  270. 
Width  (XIII.)  b:  Swin.,  Saints.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  161. 
Wild  (XIX.) :  Dry.  to  present.     J.  Warton.  I.,  p.  8. 
Wilful  (XIX.)  :  Jef.  to  present.     Rossetti,  Lives,  p.  361. 
Wire-drawn:  Lengthy  and   wire-drawn.     GOSSE,   Hist.   Eng.   Lit., 

III.,  p.  250. 

Wise  (XX.) a:  Sted.     Swinburne,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  19. 
WIT  (XXIIL). 

Previous  to  the  present  century  four  general  shades 
of   meaning   may   be  distinguished  in   the  use   of   the 
term  "  wit."     Wit,  as  indicating  the  general  As  j^^^ 
knowing  power  of  the  mind,  did  not  come  Ofthou8:llt' 


314     ^1  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

into  use  as  a  critical  term.  But__wit,  as  representing 
that  portion  of  the  knowing  power  which  results  in 
propriety  of  QQinposition,  is  a  common  use  of  the  term 
until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Wit 
represented  a  sort  of  instinctive  judgment  which  was 
wholly  controlled  by  the  sense  of  propriety  and  culti- 
vated taste. 

Wit  is  a  propriety  of  thoughts  and  words;  or  in  other  terms 
thoughts  and  words  elegantly  adapted  to  the  subject.  1674. 
DRYDEN,  V.,  p.  124. 

True  wit  may  be  defined  as  a  justness  of  thought  and  a  facility  of 
expression.  1704.  POPE,  VI.,  p.  16. 

In  the  better  notion  of  wit  considered  as  propriety,  surely  method 
is  necessary  for  perspicuity  and  harmony  of  parts.  1707.  ID., 
p.  34. 

Wit  seems  to  be  one  of  those  undetermined  sounds  to  which  we 
affix  scarce  any  precise  idea.  It  is  something  more  than  judg- 
ment, genius,  taste,  talent,  penetration,  grace,  delicacy,  and  yet 
it  partakes  somewhat  of  each.  It  may  be  properly  defined  in- 
genious reason.  1759.  GOLDSMITH,  II.,  p.  356. 

Wit,  —  that  which  is  at  once  natural  and  new,  that  which  not 
obvious,  is  upon  its  first  production  acknowledged  to  be  just. 
1781.  S.  JOHNSON,  VII,  p.  15. 

It  is  apparent  that  wit  has  two  meanings ;  and  that  what  is  wanted, 
though  called  wit,  is,  truly,  judgment  1781.  ID.,  VIII., 
p.  241. 

Until  the  latter  portion  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  term  "wit"  was  often  employed  as  a  more  or  less 
AS  fane  and  comP^ete  synonym  for  the  imagination,  as 
imagination.  ^  imagination  was  then  understood.  Wit 
was  the  fundamental  detection  of  resemblances,  and 
the  consequent  power  of  making  new  combinations  of 
thoughts  and  images.  It  was  regarded  as  a  mental 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS.     315 

process  rather  than  as  a  literary  product.  It  was  al- 
ways native,  often  wayward,  but  when  inspired  with 
a  purpose  indicative  of  great  power. 

The  poet  .  .  .  lifted  up  with  the  vigor  of  his  own  invention  doth 
grow  in  effect  into  another  nature  .  .  .  freely  ranging  within 
the  zodiac  of  his  own  wit.  1583.  SIDNEY,  p.  7. 

Wit  is  the  faculty  of  imagination  in  the  writer.  1666.  DRYDEN, 
IX.,  pp.  95,  96. 

Jonson  is  the  more  correct  poet,  bnt  Shakespeare  is  the  greater 
wit.  1668.  ID.,  XV.,  p.  347. 

Wit  lies  most  in  the  assemblage  of  ideas,  and  putting  those  to- 
gether with  quickness  and  variety.  (Quoted  from  Locke.) 
1710.  ADDISON,  II,  p.  357. 

Wit  and  passion  are  entirely  incompatible.  When  the  affections 
are  moved,  there  is  no  place  for  the  imagination.  1742.  HUME, 
I.,  p.  242. 

No  man  can  say  Shakespeare  ever  had  a  fit  subject  for  his  wit,  and 
did  not  then  raise  himself  high  above  the  rest  of  poets.  1765. 
S.JOHNSON,  V.,  p.  153. 

It  is  no  more  to  be  required  that  wit  should  always  be  blazing  than 
that  the  sun  should  always  stand  at  noon.  .  .  .  Milton,  when  he 
has  expatiated  in  the  sky,  may  be  allowed  sometimes  to  revisit 
earth.  1781.  ID.,  VII.,  p.  138. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  the  imagination  in 
literature  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  production  of  or- 
naments and  conceits.  Wit,  likewise,  came  AS  an 

_  .          ornamented 

to  be  regarded,  at  its  worst,  as  something  conceit, 
which   falsified   truth   and   violated    simplicity  for   the 
sake  of  glitter  and  polish :  at  its  best  it  was  a  play  of 
fancy,  which  softened   the  rigid  outlines  of  historical 
fact. 

Conceit  is  to  nature  what  paint  is  to  beauty.  .  .  .  There  is  a 
certain  majesty  in  simplicity,  which  is  far  above  all  the  quaint- 
ness  of  wit.  1706.  POPE,  VI.,  p.  51. 


316     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Some  to  conceit  alone  their  taste  confine, 
And  glitt'ring  thoughts  struck  out  at  every 'line ; 
Pleased  with  a  work  where  nothing 's  just  or  fit, 
One  glaring  chaos  and  wild  heap  of  wit. 

1711.     ID.,  II.,  p.  50. 

The  mind,  in  perusing  a  work  overstocked  with  wit,  is  fatigued 
and  disgusted  with  the  constant  endeavor  to  shine  and  surprise. 
1742.  HUME,  I.,  p.  241. 

Wit  should  be  used  with  caution  in  works  of  dignity,  as  it  is  only 
at  best  an  ornament.  1759.  GOLDSMITH,  II.,  p.  357. 

The  fourth  use  of  the  term  "  wit "  is  the  one  which, 
with  some  slight  variation,  has  continued  throughout 
AS  the  the  Present  century.  Wit  was  distinguished 

comical.  from  the  judging  power  of  the  mind  even  in 
the  beginning  of  English  criticism.  Wit  furnished  the 
materials  for  judgment;  it  was  more  instinctive;  it 
was  "  sharpness  of  conceit "  or  of  fancy,  which  always 
produced  some  combination  of  ideas  or  images  more 
or  less  surprising  to  the  judgment.  When  the  surprise 
was  very  great,  and  the  combination  was  seen  at  once 
to  be  merely  the  work  of  fancy,  a  sense  of  the  comical 
was  produced,  which  was  called  wit  or  humor.  Hence 
wit,  when  denoting  the  comical,  includes  not  only  the 
primary  activity  of  wit  in  revealing  unexpected  analo- 
gies and  contrasts,  but  also  the  immediate  reaction  of 
the  judgment  against  the  momentary  surprise  and  de- 
ception, occasioned  by  the  apparent  analogies  and 
contrasts. 

His  wit  shall  be  new  set  on  work ;  his  judgment  for  right  choice 

truly  tried.     ASCHAM,  III.,  p.  169. 

Wit  and  acuteness  of  fancy.     1668.     DIIYDEN,  XV.,  p.  351. 
Wit  in  the  stricter  sense,  that  is,  sharpness  of  conceit.  .  .  .  Jon- 


A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS.     317 

son_  was  not  free  from  the  lowest  and  most  grovelling  kind  of 

wik  which  we  call  clenches.    1670.     ID.,  IV.,  p.  237. 
If  wit  be  pleasantry,  Ovid  has  it  to  excess.     1693.     ID.,  XII., 

p.  62. 
There  is  in  Othello  some  burlesque,  some  humour  and  ramble  of 

comical  wit.     HYMER,  3d  Pt,  p.  146. 
We  have  seen  in  our  time  the  decline  and  ruin  of  a  false  sort  of 

wit.  .  .  .  All  humour  had  something  of  the  quibble.     SHAETES- 

BURY,  I.,  p.  48. 

During  the  present  century  wit  has  been  more  closely 
defined  both  in  its  own  nature  and  in  its  ethical  rela- 
tions. Wit,  as  such,  has  uniformly  been  Astheimsym.  q 
considered  as  a  spontaneous,  and  chiefly,  if  ^h^incon- 
no t  wholly,  intellectual  process.  When  wit  8 
as  such  is  merely  used  in  the  interest  of  some  ethical 
purpose,  it  becomes  .satire.  When  the  unexpected  con- 
trast or  similarity  surprises,  and  is  reacted  against,  not 
so  much  by  a  fixed  habit  of  judgment  derived  from  the 
past,  as  by  ideals  which  are  projected  into  the  future, 
then  wit  passes  over  into  humor. 

Wit  consists  in  presenting  thoughts  or  images  in  an  unusual  con- 
nection with  each  other  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  pleasure  by 
the  surprise.  This  connection  may  be  real ;  and  there  is  in  fact 
a  scientific  wit.  .  .  .  But  usually  the  connection  is  only  apparent 
and  transitory,  and  may  be  by  thoughts  (Butler),  by  words 
(Voltaire),  by  images  (Shakespeare)  ;  the  latter  usually  called 
fancy.  1810.  COLERIDGE,  IV.,  p.  75. 

In  such  periods  as  that  of  Charles  II.,  wit  succeeds  to  humour; 
we  laugh  from  self-complacency  and  triumph,  instead  of  pleasure. 
1821.  SHELLEY,  VII.,  p.  117. 

Whilst  wit  is  a  purely  intellectual  thing,  into  every  act  of  the  hu- 
morous mood  there  is  an  influx  of  the  moral  nature.  1821.  DE 
QUINCEY,  XI.,  p.  270. 

Home  Tooke  .  .  .  was  a  wit,  and  a  formidable  one :  yet  it  may 


818     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

be  questioned  whether  his  wit  was  anything  more  than  an  excess 
of  his  logical  faculty :  it  did  not  consist  in  the  play  of  fancy,  but 
in  close  and  cutting  combinations  of  the  understanding.  1825. 
HAZLITT,  Sp.  of  Age,  p.  80. 

Humour  is  wit  appertaining  to  character,  and  indulges  in  breadth 
of  drollery  rather  than  in  play  and  brilliancy  of  point.  1826. 
LANDOR,  IV.,  pp.  270,  271. 

Voltaire's  wit  ranks  essentially  among  the  lowest  species  even  of 
ridicule.  It  is  at  all  times  mere  logical  pleasantry ;  a  gaiety  of 
the  head,  not  of  the  heart ;  there  is  scarcely  a  twinkle  of  humour 
in.  the  whole  of  his  numberless  sallies.  1829.  CARLYLE,  II., 
p.  167. 

The  living  spirit  of  wit,  its  poetic  and  imaginative  power  .  .  . 
never  had  a  medium  of  expression  comparable  to  the  verse  of 
Byron.  1869.  SWINBURNE,  Es.  &  St.,  p.  306. 

The  proper  antithesis  to  humour  is  satire ;  wit  is  commoii  to  both. 
1872.  MINTO,  Man.  of  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  23. 

Milton  has  flashes  of  wit,  though  not  many ;  his  indignation  of 
itself  sometimes  makes  him  really  sarcastic.  But  humorous  he 
is  never.  SAINTS  BURY,  Hist.  Eng.  Lit.,  p.  324. 


Witticism  (XVII.)  :  Dry.  to  present. 

I  have  heard,  says  a  critic,  of  anchovies  dissolved  in  sauce ;  but 

never  of  an  angel  in  hallelujahs.     A  mighty  witticism  (if  you  will 

pardon  a  new  word).     DRYDEN,  V.,  p.  122. 
Wooden  (VII.) :  Conventional  and  wooden.     SAINTSBURY,   Es.  in 

Eng.  Lit.,  p.  347. 

Wordy  (XIX.)  bi  Jef.  to  present.     Jeffrey,  II.,  p.  404. 
Yonkerly :  Your  Latin  farewell  is  a  goodly,  brave,  yonkerly  piece  of 

work.     HARVEY,  Letters,  p.  24. 
Youthfulness :  Saintsbury,  Hist.  Fr.  Lit,,  p.  208. 
Zest  (XV.) :  Stedman,  Vic.  Poets,  p.  111. 


APPENDIX. 


1 


THE  HISTORICAL  GROUPING  OF  THE  TERMS. 

TT  will  be  recognized  by  even  the  most  casual  student 
of  the  history  of  criticism  that  certain  general  features 
of  literary  composition  have  at  some  times  been  empha- 
sized more  than  at  other  times.  Thus,  speaking  broadly, 
during  the  first  century  of  English  criticism  the  attention 
of  the  critics  was  occupied  Chiefly  with  the  language  and 
mechanical  construction  of  literary  composition,  and  also 
with  a .  vague  aesthetic  sense  of  proportion  and  decorum ; 
during  the  next  century,  with  the  thought  or  sentiment 
of  literature,  and  also  with  a  conservative  aesthetic  sense 
of  fitness  or  propriety^;  then,  for  nearly  a  century,  with 
the  imagery  of__a_composition,  and  also  with  a  vigorous 
aesthetic  sensibility  and  passion ;  and  finally,  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  -with  the  jeality  of  a  composition, 
its  correspondence  to  actual  life,  and  also  with  a  refined 
aesthetic  an d_  artis tic  sen sibil ity.  an d  f e el i n g. 

These  conceptions  or  principles  of  literature  and  criti- 
cism, and  such  as  these,  as  they  have  risen  into  promi- 
nence, have  exerted  an  organizing  influence  over  the  entire 
critical  vocabulary.  Any  critical  term  or  principle  which 
occupies  for  any  length  of  time  the  foreground  of  atten- 
tion compels  other  critical  terms  or  principles  to  come 


320       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

into  some  sort  of  relation  to  it.  By  methods  explained 
in  the  Introduction,  by  synonymous  use,  by  contrast  and 
by  inclusion,  critical  terms  thus  historically  organize  them- 
selves. E.  g. :  — 

Superseding  Shakespeare's  wild  beauties  and  Milton's  rugged-ness  by 
establishing  the  reign  of  classic  elegance,  polish,  and  correctness. 
(Quoted  from  "Extract  Book.")  T.  ARNOLD,  Man.  of  El.  Lit., 
p.  306. 

The  following  lists  are  intended  to  gather  up  the  results 
of  this  historical  grouping  of  terms,  —  a  grouping  which 
was  controlled  more  or  less  by  the  immediate  feeling  for 
some  concrete  portion  of  literature  rather  than  by  an  ab- 
stract theory  of  how  the  terms  ought  to  be  grouped.  The 
lists  are  the  result  of  much  painstaking  comparison  as  to 
the  actual  use  of  critical  terms.  The  organizing  concep- 
tion for  most  of  the  groups  is  very  evident  in  criticism. 
For  historical  reasons,  however,  many  groups  have  been 
divided  which  could  otherwise  have  been  classified  together. 
It  has  also  been  impossible  to  classify  with  any  degree 
of  accuracy  many  sporadic  and  figurative  terms,  whose 
critical  significance  has  not  as  yet  been  definitely  deter- 
mined by  their  actual  application  to  literature. 

The  first  column  of  each  list  is  composed  of  positive 
terms,  those  which  represent  some  positive  literary  qual- 
ity or  characteristic ;  the  second  and  third  columns  are 
composed  of  negative  terms,  those  which  deny  the  pres- 
ence of  the  positive  literary  quality  or  characteristic. 
Some  positive  terms  may  have  two  negatives,  one  of 
"deficiency"  and  one  of  "excess."  The  terms  denoting 
a  deficiency  of  some  literary  quality  are  placed  in  the 
second  column,  those  denoting  an  excess  in  the  third 
column.  The  negative  terms  are  usually  to  be  consid- 


APPENDIX 


321 


ered,  not  so  much  as  the  direct  opposite  to  any  one  pos- 
itive term,  as  to  the  general  conception  represented  by 
all  the  positive  terms. 

I.     PURITY.     CORRECTNESS.     GRAMMATICAL. 

Positive.  Deficient.  Excess. 

Chaste.  Archaic.  Purism. 

Clean.  Barbarism. 

Correct.  Colloquial. 

English.  Corrupt. 

Grammatical.  Gallic. 

Idiomatic.  Germanisms. 

Marble-pure.  Hebraism. 

Mot-propre.  Ink-horn. 

Pure.  Latinism. 

Vernacular.  Licentious. 

Obsolete. 

Provincial. 

Slangy. 
-  Solecism. 

Vulgarism. 

Roger  Ascham's  "  Scholemaster,"  written  in  1557,  was 
an  innovation  in  more  ways  than  one.  It  marks  the  be- 
ginning in  England  QL_pedagogical_  discussion,  of  a  schol- 
arly prose  literature,  and  of  criticism.  The  criticism  which 
it  contains  is  incidental  to  the  pedagogical  discussion  of 
certain  Latin  authors,  who  are  recommended  for  study. 
The  prose  style  in  which  it  is  written  gives  constant  evi- 
dence of  the  Latin  influence ;  the  separate  words  only  are 
English ;  the  Latin  order  and  idiom  are  paramount.  In 
fact,  more  than  half  a  century  after  the  publication  of 
Ascham's  "Scholemaster,"  Bacon,  utterly  distrusting  the 
native  tongue  as  a  means  of  scholarly  expression,  wrote 
his  Novum  Organum  in  Latin.  This  overpowering  influ- 

21 


322     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 


ence  of  Latin  scholarship  in  composition  gradually  gave 
way  to  the  English  idiorn.  But  the  process  was  a  slow 
one.  The  native  idiom  was  crude  and  unrefined,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  language  of  literary  composition  was 
perhaps  the  most  fundamental  problem  with  which  Eng- 
lish criticism  had  to  deal  during  the  first  century  of  its 
development. 

II.     ORDER.     PROPORTION.     REGULARITY. 


Positive. 

Antithetical. 

Balanced. 

Consecutive. 

Equal. 

Even. 

Form. 

Methodic. 

Order. 

Periodic. 

Poised. 

Proportion. 

Regular. 

Symmetry. 

Systematic. 


Deficient. 


Amorphous. 

Intricate. 

Arabesque. 

Invertebrate. 

Blundering. 

Involved. 

Changeful. 

Jagged. 

Chaotic. 

Motley. 

Clumsy. 

Perplexed. 

Complicated. 

Rough. 

Confused. 

Rough-hewii. 

Contorted. 

Roundabout. 

Convolution. 

Scabrous. 

Crabbed. 

Shapeless. 

Crooked. 

Sinuous. 

Cumbrous. 

Spasmodic. 

Distorted. 

Straggling. 

Eccentric. 

Tortuous. 

Erratic. 

Tortured. 

Fantastic. 

Turbid. 

Fitful. 

Ungainly. 

Inchoate. 

Unhewn. 

Insouciance. 

Excess. 

Mannered. 
Monotony. 
Sameness. 
Sing-song. 
Uniformity. 


This  list  of  terms  refers  to  the  methodic  ^arrangement  ) 

**  \  _         "  ' 

of  the  parts  of  a  literary  production,  of  the  sounds, 
syllables,  words,  phrases,  sentences,  and  occasionally 
of  the  plot  or  fable,  —  this  methodic  arrangement  to 


APPENDIX 


323 


take  place  perhaps  to  a  certain  extent  in  accordance 
with  the  native  sense  of  harmony  in  the  mind,  but  more 
usually  in  accordance  with  certain  given  rules  of  compo- 
sition. Incidentally,  the  terms  may  indicate  a  sufficient 
logical  arrangement  of  the  argument  or  thought  to  avoid 
confusion  or  contradiction.  Method  in  composition  grew 
very  largely  out  of  the  attempt  to  purify  the  language, 
and  to  elevate  it  by  analogy  with  Greek  and  Roman  lit- 
erature ;  and  hence  most  of  the  terms  of  the  present  list 
were  in  great  favor  during  the  first  two  centuries  of 
English  criticism. 

III.     PERSPICUITY.     CLEARNESS.     SIMPLICITY. 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


Clarity. 

Pellucid. 

Clear. 

Perspicacity. 

Clear-cut. 

Perspicuous. 

Definable. 

Photographic. 

Definite. 

Pictorial. 

Distinct. 

Plain. 

Exact. 

Precision. 

Explicit. 

Simple. 

Graphic. 

Tangible. 

Intelligible. 

Translucent. 

Lucid. 

Transparent. 

Luminous. 

Vivid. 

Obvious. 

Abstruse.          Inexplicable. 

Ambiguous.      Misty. 

Cloudy.  Mystical. 

Complex. 

Covert. 

Dark. 

Difficult. 

Dim. 


Hard. 
Indefinable. 


Obscure. 

Opaque. 

Puzzling. 

Turbid. 

Uncertain. 

Vague. 


The  terms  of  this  list  represent  the  general  require- 
ment that  the  language  of  a  composition  shall  be  so 
arranged  that  the  reader  may  most  readily  and  vividly 
comprehend  the  thought  expressed.  The  terms  designate 
a  general  result,  which  is  produced  by  a  complex  multi- 
plicity of  means,  and  the  history  of  the  different  terms 
is  to  be  traced  by  indicating  the  general  change  which 


324     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

has  taken  place  in  the  means  by  which  this  general  re- 
sult is  thought  to  be  best  brought  about.  For  this  ready 
comprehension  of  the  thought,  the  early  English  critics 
laid  chief  stress  upon  the  choice  of  words  and  the  gram- 
matical construction  of  sentences.  From  about  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  logical  arrangement  of  the  sentences  was  con- 
sidered as  the  chief  means  for  attaining  this  ready  com- 
prehension of  the  thought.  During  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century, 
the  chief  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  distinctness  and  viv- 
idness of  the  mental  imagery  employed.  But  during  the 
greater  portion  of  the  present  century  it  has  been  very 
frequently  recognized  that  the  thought  can  be  readily 
comprehended  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  truthful  to  the  facts 
represented,  as  it  corresponds  to  reality.  Most  of  the 
terms  of  the  list  given  above  have  been  very  perceptibly 
affected  by  this  general  change  of  view  as  to  the  method 
by  which  the  thought  could  be  most  efficiently  expressed 
in  language. 

IV.     PROPRIETY. 


Positive 

Deficient. 

Excess. 

Adaptation. 

Fitness. 

Anachronism. 

Ceremonious. 

Appropriate. 

Happy. 

Ancient. 

Conventional. 

Apt. 

Keeping  (in). 

Antiquated. 

Fastidious. 

Becoming. 

Meetely. 

Barbarous. 

Formality. 

Choice. 

Modern. 

Effete. 

Prudery. 

Chosen. 

Proper. 

Far-fetched. 

Prim. 

Concinnity. 

Propriety. 

Ill-placed. 

Mannerism. 

Congruous. 

Pertinent. 

Incongruous. 

Over-castigated. 

Consentaneity. 

Seasonable. 

License. 

Over-mannered. 

Decent. 

Seemly. 

Pseudo-antique. 

Decorum. 

Suitable. 

Unseemly. 

Fashionable. 

Well-chosen. 

Felicity. 

'' 


APPENDIX. 


325 


The  general  conception  of  this  list  of  terms  is  the 
jiarmomous  adaptation  of  the  various  characteristics  of  a 
(composition  •  to  one_  another,  —  of  the  subject  chosen, 
the  language  employed,  the  figures  of  speech,  the  senti- 
ments, the  characters,  —  especially  their  moral  deportmentt  \ 
—-all  these  to  be  in  conformity  with  the  nature  of  thft 


audience  addressed,  and  with  the  personal  character  of  the 


author  himself.  In  tracing  the  history  of  the  different 
terms  of  the  lis£,  the  chief  interest  arises  from  the  change 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  means  by  which  the  fitness 
or  adaptation  of  the  different  parts  of  a  composition  is 
determined;  a  secondary  interest  arises  from  the  varia- 
tion as  regards  the  part  of  the  composition  to  which  the 
term  especially  refers.  The  terms  were  in  greatest  use 
during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

V.     ORNAMENT.     ELEGANCE.     COLOR. 

Positive.  Deficient.  Excess. 


(a.)  Adorned. 

Jaunty. 

Bare. 

Aniline. 

Artifice. 

Lambent. 

Base. 

Arabesque. 

Bright. 

Many-colored. 

Blunt. 

Dazzling. 

Brilliant. 

Monumental. 

Coarse. 

•  Elaborate. 

Brocaded. 

Neat. 

Crude. 

Embroidery. 

Chiselled. 

Nicety. 

Dead-colored. 

Finery. 

Color. 

Nobby. 

Gross. 

Finical. 

Costly. 

Ornament. 

Homely. 

Flamboyant. 

Courteous. 

Ornate. 

Horse-play. 

Flashy. 

Courtly. 

Point 

Mean. 

Floribund. 

Decorative. 

Polished. 

Pale. 

Florid. 

Elegance. 

Polite. 

Pallid. 

Flowery. 

Embellished. 

Quality. 

Rude. 

Frippery. 

Figured. 

Refinement. 

Rugged. 

Gaudy. 

Finish. 

Shining. 

Rustic. 

Glaring. 

Gentleman-like. 

Splendor. 

Sombre. 

Gorgeous. 

Gentlemanly. 

Urbanity. 

Vulgar. 

High-colored. 

Glider. 

Varnished. 

Meretricious. 

Glossy. 

Over-jewelled. 

326       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL  TERMS. 

Positive.  Deficient.  Excess. 

(b.)  Skill,  etc.  Over-shining. 

Ability.  Execution.  Abortive.  Painted. 

Accomplished.     Expert.  Parade. 

Adroit.  Skill.  Plebeian. 

Alacrity.  Smart.  Pretty. 

Artful.  Subtle.  Showy. 

Capacity.  Tact.  Sumptuous. 

Clever.  Talent.  Tawdry. 

Cunning.  Technique.  Tinsel. 
Dextrous. 

The  terms  of  this  list  indicate  in  general  such  a  selection 
of  facts  and  such  a  method  of  expressing  them  as  shall  give 
evidence  of  brilliant  fancy  and  cultured  feeling.  The  facts 
selected  must  be  capable  of  entering,  as  it  were,  into  good 
society  ;  they  must  not  offend  by  their  crudeness  ;  they  must 
conform  to  good  usage.  The  language  must  be  slightly 
heightened  above  what  is  necessary  for  a  plain  statement  of 
the  facts,  but  still  it  must  not  be  heightened  so  much  as  to 
become  "extravagant,"  "florid,"  or  "rhetorical."  The  posi- 
tive and  active  use  of  these  terms  in  English  criticism  is 
confined  chiefly  to  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

VI.     ANCIENT   TECHNICAL   TERMS. 

Character.  Ethos. 

Elocution.  Manners. 

Sentiment. 


Many  of  the  technical  terms  of  the  ancient  critical  vo- 
cabulary became  active  naturalized  expressions  in  Eng- 
lish criticism.  A  few  terms,  however,  occurring  usually 
in  dramatic  criticism,  failed  to  assimilate,  so  to  speak, 
with  the  vocabulary  of  English  criticism.  They  have 
scarcely  ever  been  employed  as  active  critical  terms,  nor 
do  they  exercise  much  schematizing  influence  upon  other 
terms.  Still  they  have  helped  to  shape  the  general  lines 


APPENDIX. 


327 


of  discussion  in  English  criticism,  even  to  the  present 
time,  and  a  brief  account  of  the  changes  of  meaning  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  use  of  these  words  is  imperative. 


VII. 

NATURE.     NATURAL.       SINCERE. 

Positive. 

Deficient. 

Artless. 

Naivete. 

Affected. 

Falsetto. 

Effortless. 
Genuine. 

Native. 
Natural. 

Artificial. 
Bastard. 

Far-sought. 
Forced. 

Home-bred. 

Nature. 

Bookish. 

Labored. 

Home-spun. 
Honest. 

Organic. 
Sincere. 

Cant. 
Conceited. 

Literary. 
Mechanical. 

Ingenuous. 
Instinctive. 
Living. 
Naive. 

Spontaneous. 
Unconscious. 
Vital. 

Conscious. 
Dilettantesque. 
Dissembled. 
Excrementitious. 

Morbid. 
Pedantic. 
Stilted. 
Studied. 

Exotic. 

Wooden. 

Factitious. 

Whatever  is  not  consciously  elaborated  is  included  in 
a  more  or  less  vague  manner  by  the  general  conception 
of  this  list  of  terms.  They  represent  the  "twilight  of 
the  mind/7  the  "  fringe  "  of  conscious  life,  that  which  seems 
to  be  given  to  man,  to  come  unsought  from  without  and 
from  within.  Hence  these  terms  indicate,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  most  simple  and  primary  native  powers  of  the  mind 
brought  into  play  in  the  production  of  literature ;  on  the 
other  hand,  they  denote  accuracy  to  the  most  simple  and 
primary  apprehension  of  external  facts. 

VIII.      PROBABILITY.      TRUTH.      REALITY. 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


(a.)  Accurate. 
Actual. 
Authentic. 
Exact. 
Faithful. 
Fidelity. 


Historic. 

Inevitable. 

Life-like. 

Plausible. 

Possibility. 

Probability. 


Caricature. 
Deceit. 
Delusive. 
Discutable. 


False. 
Fictitious. 
Figurative. 
Heightened. 


Exaggerated.    Histrionic. 
Excessive.        Hyperbolical. 


328     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


Real. 

Truth-like. 

Hypocrisy. 

Questionable. 

Realism. 

Undeniable. 

Incredible. 

Spurious. 

Reality. 

Veracity. 

Mendacious. 

Visionary. 

Sure. 

Verisimilitude. 

Metaphorical. 

Truth. 

Paradoxical. 

(b.)  Circumstantial. 

Abstract. 

Concrete. 

Generality. 

Detailed. 

Minute. 

Particular. 

The  terms  of  this  list  denote  whatever  in  actual  life  can 
be  accepted  ^as  fact,  whatever  can  be  most  depended  upon, 
and  is  most  permanent  in  the  interests  of  any  individual 
or  of  any  number  of  individuals.  "Fact"  in  criticism 
•  consists  in  whatever  is  considered  as  most  essential  for 
literary  representation.  Before  the  present  century,  when 
the  dominant  type  of  literature  was  the  epic,  fact  was 
thought  to  be  attained  by  accuracy  to  historical  events. 
In  the  present  century,  when  poetry  is  chiefly  lyrical, 
fact  is  supposed  to  be  represented  by  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  with  which  lyrical  poetry  deals. 

IX.     VARIETY.     NOVELTY.     GOTHIC.     ROMANTIC. 


Positive. 

Deficient.                   Excess. 

Bizarre. 

Relief. 

Common.              Monstrous. 

Curious. 

Romantic. 

Commonplace. 

Distinction. 

Singular. 

Hackneyed. 

Extraordinary. 

Startling. 

Magazinish. 

Fresh. 

Strange. 

Old-fashioned. 

Gothic. 

Striking. 

Ordinary. 

Grotesque. 

Sudden. 

Stale. 

New.  • 

Unexpected. 

Trite. 

Novelty. 

Unique. 

Odd. 

Variety. 

Quaint. 

Weird. 

Rare. 

Wonderful. 

APPENDIX. 


329 


The  early  critics  found  it  necessary  to  insist  upon  reg- 
ularity in  composition  in  order  to  counteract  the  native 
tendency  of  English  writers  toward  variety  and  novelty. 
This  sense  of  variety,  of  constant  change,  of  the  develop- 
ing movement  in  literature,  was  strong  in  the  beginning 
of  English  criticism,  and  it  has  grown  stronger  and  stronger 
until  the  present  time.  It  is  this  conception  of  constant 
change  and  development,  viewed  as  to  its  most  general 
manifestation  both  in  the  mind  and  in  the  composition, 
that  is  represented  by  the  present  list  of  terms. 

X.      HARMONY.      RHYTHMICAL.      MUSICAL. 


Positive. 


Alliteration. 

Ambling. 

Antiphonal. 

Assonant. 

Barytone. 

Cadence. 

Canorous. 

Clarion- versed. 

Dactylic. 

Euphonious. 

Mute-like. 

Harmony. 

Hymnal. 

Intonation. 

Lilting. 

Limpid. 

Liquid. 

Measured. 

Mellifluous. 

Melody. 

Melting. 


Metrical. 

Modulation. 

Monochordic. 

Musical. 

Numbers. 

Numerous. 

Organ-like. 

Resonance. 

Rhythmical. 

Rolling. 

Smooth. 

Soft. 

Sonorous. 

Sounding. 

Spondaic. 

Sweet. 

Swelling. 

Symphonical. 

Trumpet- tone. 

Tuneful. 

Well-sounding. 


Deficient. 

Cacophonous. 

Clang. 

Clangour. 

Clashing. 

Discord. 

Dissonance. 

Harsh. 

Hurtling. 

Jarring. 

Jingle. 

Jumping. 

Rattling. 

Rumbling. 

Shrill. 

Tuneless. 

Turgid. 

Wheezing. 


The  terms  of  this  list  represent  the  simple  principles 
of  music  which'  are  made  use  of  in  the  composition  of 


SCO        A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

literature,  —  the  sense  of  rhythm  and  of  harmony  in  sound. 
Previous  to  the  present  century  the  terms  were  referred 
for  explanation  chiefly  to  the  composition  itself;  during 
the  present  century,  to  the  mind  of  the  author  or  reader. 


XII.      VIGOUR.      ENERGY.      FORCE. 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


Excess. 


Aggressive. 

Abortive. 

Audacity. 

Ambitious. 

Anti  climax. 

Cut-and-thrust. 

Animated. 

Childish. 

Ebullient. 

Bold. 

Effeminate. 

Ferocious. 

Cogent. 

Effortless. 

Fierce. 

Daring. 

Emasculate. 

Fiery. 

Emphatic. 

Exhausted. 

Furious. 

Energy. 

Feeble. 

Impetuous. 

Fearless. 

Feminine. 

Impulsive. 

Fire. 

Flaccid. 

Intense. 

Force. 

Flat. 

Intrepidity. 

Full-blooded. 

Inanity. 

Rash. 

Full-bodied. 

Indolence. 

Savage. 

Hearty. 

Infantile. 

Stormy. 

Life. 

Insipid. 

Strained. 

Lively. 

Jejune. 

Terrible. 

Lusty. 

Languid. 

Terrific. 

Masculine. 

Lax. 

Tumultuous. 

Momentum. 

Meagre. 

Vehement. 

Muscular. 

Mincing. 

Violent. 

Nervous. 

Nerveless. 

Persistent. 

Operoseness. 

Positive. 

Otiose. 

Potent. 

Paucity. 

Power. 

Penury. 

Quick. 

Platitude. 

Racy. 

Poor. 

Resilient. 

Poverty. 

Robust. 

Puerile. 

APPENDIX.  331 

Positive.  Deficient. 


Sedulous. 

Senile. 

Self-assertive. 

Slack. 

Sinewy. 

Stagnant. 

Speed. 

Tame. 

Spirit. 

Torpid. 

Stirring. 

Vapid  . 

Strength. 

Weak. 

Strenuous. 

Weary. 

Stress. 

Verve. 

Vigour 

Virile. 

Vivacious. 

The  terms  of  this  list  were  very  prominent  in  English 
criticism  from  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
until  within  the  early  portion  of  the  present  century. 
Although  the  words  do  not  have  much  history,  which 
is  peculiar  to  them  as  critical  terms,  their  constant  and 
frequent  mention  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  must 
represent  some  fundamental  artistic  impulse  or  literary 
instinct  of  the  mind. 

XI.     MAJESTY.      DIGNITY.      SUBLIMITY. 

Positive.  Deficient. 

(a.)  August.  Heroic.  Babyish. 

Cyclopean.  High.  Bathos. 

Dense.  Immense.  Childish. 

Dignity.  Imperial.  Drivelling. 

Elevation.  Imposing.  Ephemeral. 

Exalted.  Impressive.  Evanescent. 

Firm.  Large.  Flippant. 

Gigantic.  Lofty.  Frivolous. 

Grand.  Magnificent.  Fugitive. 

Grandeur.  Majestic.  Little. 


332       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 

Positive.  Deficient. 

Massive.  Staid.  Niaiserie. 

Might.  Stately.  Paltry. 

Noble.  Steady.  Petty. 

Oceanic.  Stolid.  Quibbling. 

Ponderous.  Sublime.  Rubbishy. 

Spacious.  Vast.  Transient. 

Stable.  Weighty.  Transitory. 

(b.)  Abundance.  Copy.  Trifling. 

Affluent.  Exuberance.  Trivial. 

Ample.  Fulness. 

Amplitude.  Opulent. 

Copious.  Rich. 

There  are  few  English  critics  who  do  not  make  their 
sense  of  power  one  of  the  chief  means  by  which  to  test 
the  merits  of  literary  work.  The  subject  must  be  so  viv- 
idly conceived  of  by  the  author,  and  portrayed  so  effec- 
tively, that  it  shall  seem  to  the  reader  to  be  a  moving 
portion  of  real  life.  Thus,  as  to  the  drama,  English  taste 
required,  not  declamation  concerning  action,  but  action 
itself;  in  regard  to  descriptive  poetry,  it  delights  not  in 
the  immediate  object  so  much  as  in  the  distant  prospect, 
suggestive  always  of  movement;  and  in  poetry  dealing 
with  the  states  of  the  mind,  it  demands  that  the  shades 
of  character  portrayed,  however  subtle  they  may  be,  shall 
be  immediately  related  to  the  central  interests  of  human 
life  and  human  destiny.  Now,  energy  may  be  repre- 
sented as  active  at  the  time,  or  it  may  be  represented,  so 
to  speak,  as  resisting  itself,  as  self-contained,  as  display- 
ing a  vast  capability  of  power  without  any  immediate 
exercise  of  that  power.  These  divisions  of  energy,  which 
in  philosophy  and  physics  are  known  as  dynamic  and 
latent  energy,  are  perhaps  enough  applicable  to  criticism 


APPENDIX. 


333 


to  justify  the  classification  of  the  terrns  denoting  energy 
into  two  separate  groups. 


XIII.     UNITY. 


Positive. 

Coherence. 

Linked. 

Compact. 

Motive. 

Complete. 

Solid. 

Connected. 

Sustained. 

Consistency. 

Tone. 

Continuity. 

Unicity. 

Fused. 

Unity. 

Homogeneous. 

Body. 

Profound. 

Breadth. 

Range. 

Compass. 

Reach. 

Comprehensive. 

Scope. 

Depth. 

Sweeping. 

Expansive. 

Thorough. 

Extensive. 

Volume. 

Grasp. 

Width. 

Deficient. 


Abrupt. 
Broken. 

Diverse. 
Eclectic. 

Composite. 
Digressive. 
Disconnected. 
Discursive. 
Disjointed. 

Excursive. 
Indigested. 
Loose-jointed. 
Loose-hung. 
Sketchy. 

Limited. 

Narrow. 

Restricted. 

The  terms  of  this  list  are  closely  related  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  general  conception  of  regularity,  and  on  the 
other  hand  to  those  mental  activities  by  means  of  which 
the  unity  of  a  literary  production  is  apprehended  and  held 
in  mind  during  the  process  of  composition.  Tn  so  far  as 
the  terms  refer  to  regularity,  they  represent  literary  prin- 
ciples or  features  which  are  capable  of  exact  definition, 
of  being  reduced  to  method  and  rule.  In  so  far  as  the 
terms  refer  to  mental  activities,  they  are  not  capable  of 
such  exact  definition.  The  general  change  of  meaning  in 
the  terms  has  been  from  the  standpoint  of  regularity  to 
that  of  the  psychical  activities. 


334     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 


XIV.     MORAL. 


Positive. 

Amenity. 
Amiable. 

Grave. 
Grim. 

Candor. 

Healthful. 

Catholic. 

Human. 

Cheerful. 

Innocence. 

Congenial. 
Conscientious. 

Joyous. 
Liberal. 

Cordial. 
Devout. 
Disinterested. 

Manly. 
Melancholy. 
Moral. 

Earnest. 

Pensive. 

Ethical. 

Plaintive. 

Frank. 

Sad. 

Gay. 
Generous. 

Serious. 
Solemn. 

Genial. 

Sombre. 

Gloomy. 
Good-tempered. 
Gracious. 

Sunny. 
Timid. 
Tolerant. 

Grateful. 

Wholesome. 

Deficient. 


Acerbity. 

Immoral. 

Acrid. 

Indignant. 

Acrimony. 

Insolence. 

Asservity. 

Levity. 

Bawdry. 

Low. 

Biting. 

Obscene. 

Bitter. 

Querulous. 

Carping. 

Rancid. 

Caustic. 

Rancour. 

Corrupt. 

Ribald. 

Cynical. 

Sensual. 

Debased. 

Servile. 

Distrustful. 

Sickly. 

Egotistic. 

Scurrilous. 

Far-grasping. 

Vain. 

Fawning. 

Vicious. 

Filthy. 

Vile. 

Foul. 

Voluptuous. 

Fulsome 

Waspish. 

Ignoble 

There  are  very  few  critical  terms  which  do  not  possess 
more  or  less  ethical  significance.  The  present  list  is  com- 
posed of  those  terms  the  ethical  significance  of  which  is 
most  immediate  and  direct.  Literature,  it  is  universally 
agreed,  must  not  be  immoral ;  but  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  to  conduce  to  morality,  there  is  no  such  uni- 
versal agreement.  Hence  the  unity  of  the  present  list  is 
to  be  found  in  the  negative  rather  than  in  the  positive 
terms.  It  was  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
that  morality  and  literature  were  first  fundamentally  iden- 
tified with  each  other.  This  fact  gives  the  historical  set- 
ting for  this  list  of  terms. 


APPENDIX. 


886 


XV.      PASSION.      IMPASSIONED.      PEELING 

Positive.  Deficient.  Excess. 

Affectionate.  Arctic.  Adolescent. 

Amorous.  Austere.  Feverish. 

Ardent.  Cold.  Flame. 

Ardor.  Cold-blooded.  Frantic. 

Ecstasy.  Dry.  Frenzy. 

Emotion.  Frigid.  Hectic. 

Enthusiastic.  Indifferent.  Hysterical. 

Erotic.  Marble-cold.  Lachrymose. 

Feeling.  Neutral.  Lascivious. 

Fervent.  Scholastic.  Mawkish. 

Fervors.  Namby-pamby. 

Gusto.  Pothery. 

Heat.  Prurient. 

Impassioned.  Rabid. 

Inspired.  Raving. 

Passion .  Sensational . 

Rapture.  Sensuous. 

Sensibility.  Sentimental. 

Sympathy. 
Warmth. 
Zest. 

The  terms  of  this  list  are  closely  related  to  those  de- 
noting strength,  morality,  and  aesthetic  feeling.  ^Esthetic 
ideals  continually  become  moral  purposes,  and  frpm 
strength  and  persistency  of  impulse  to  realize  these  ideals 
and  purposes  there  results  passion  or  emotion,  as  it  has 
usually  been  employed  in  criticism.  In  so  far  as  the 
impulse  receives  emphasis,  emotion  or  passion  tends  to 
become  mere  appetite.  In  so  far  as  the  ideal  is  empha- 
sized, emotion  becomes  poetical,  refined,  artistic. 


336     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 


XVI.      PICTURESQUE.      SUGGESTION. 

Deficient. 

Arid. 

Bald. 

Barren. 

Naked. 

Sterile. 


Positive. 

Allusive. 

Pithey. 

Conspicuous. 

Plentiful. 

Expressive. 

Pregnant. 

Fecundity. 

Prolific. 

Fertile. 

Prophetic. 

Fruitful. 

Salient. 

Interpretative. 

Significant. 

Latent. 

Suggestive. 

Memorable. 

Symbolical. 

Picturesque. 

The  terms  of  this  list  represent  in  general  the  use  of 
the  association  of  ideas  in  the  mind  as  the  chief  means 
of  producing  literary  effects.  The  mind  of  the  reader  is 
filled  more  with  a  sense  of  what  he  does  not  directly  see 
than  of  what  he  does.  The  author  feels  the  depth  and 
sincerity  of  human  life,  and  with  one  masterly  touch  he 
strikes  a  chord  which  echoes  far  and  wide  within  the 
realm  of  unexpressed  memories,  ideals,  and  longings.  The 
immediate  image  becomes  in  a  sense  a  symbol  for  the  re- 
mote, the  far-off,  the  mysterious.  This  reaching  out  of 
human  thought  toward  the  unlimited,  the  infinite,  has 
been  marked  during  the  whole  of  the  present  century,  — 
especially  was  it  prominent  during  the  early  portion  of 
the  century. 

XVII.      PATHOS.      HUMOR. 

Positive.  Deficient. 


Amusing.  Buffoonery.  Droll. 

Archness.  Burlesque.  Dry. 

Bon-mot.  Clench.  Dry-stick. 


APPENDIX 


337 


Comical. 

Repartee. 

Cunning. 

Ridiculous. 

Cynical. 

Salt. 

Diverting. 

Sarcastic. 

Farcical. 

Satire. 

Humor. 

Sportive. 

Incongruous. 

Witticism. 

Irony. 

Ludicrous. 

Affecting. 

Mirth. 

Moving. 

Pleasantry.  . 

Pathetic. 

Poignant. 

Touching. 

Raillery. 

Tragic. 

The  contrast  between  actual  conditions  and  ideal  possi- 
bilities gives  rise  to  a  feeling  or  "passion/'  which,  during 
the  present  century,  has  been  called  pathos  and  humor, 
—  pathos  being  relatively  the  more  passive,  humor  the 
more  active  phase  of  the  same  sympathetic  activity  of  the 
mind.  Both  terms,  however,  have  an  extended  history, 
and  were  formerly  used  with  meanings  and  relations  quite 
other  than  those  which  they  now  possess.  The  terms  of 
this  list  have  their  apparent  unity  in  the  simple  feeling 
of  the  incongruous;  they  have  their  real  unity  in  the 
idealizing  tendencies,  by  means  of  which  this  feeling  of 
the  incongruous  is  rendered  possible. 


XVIII.      EASY.      RAPID.      DIRECT. 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


Action. 

Brisk. 

Circuitous. 

—  \ 
Constricted. 

Airy. 

Buoyant. 

Club-footed. 

Crabbed. 

Blithe. 

Crisp. 

Constrained. 

Creeping. 

22 

338       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL    TERMS. 


p 

ositive. 

Currant. 

Plastic. 

Direct. 

Plajfc*. 

Ductile. 

Pliant. 

Ease. 

Progression. 

Elastic. 

Racy. 

Facility. 

Rapid. 

Flexible. 

Skipping. 

Flow. 

Slipper. 

Fluent. 

Sportive. 

Fluid. 

Sprightly. 

Free. 

Straight-forward. 

Leaping. 

Supple. 

Light. 

Surging. 

Lithe. 

Swift. 

Motion. 

Trippingly. 

Movement. 

Vaulting. 

Nimble. 

Volatile. 

Pert. 

Deficient. 


Desultory. 

Dragging. 

Embarrassed. 

Flagging. 

Floundering. 

Halting, 

Heavy. 

Hobbling. 

Lame. 

Limping. 

Lumbering. 

Pedestrian. 


Rambling. 

Shuffling. 

SUp-shod. 

Slow. 

Sprawling. 

Stiff. 

Stumbling. 

Tardy. 

Trailing. 

Unwieldy. 

Wandering. 


The  requirement  of  perspicuity  and  clearness  in  style, 
when  joined  with  that  of  strength,  or  at  least  of  move- 
ment, forms  the  general  conception  for  the  list  of  terms 
given  above.  Clearness  as  such,  the  mere  desire  of  ren- 
dering the  thought  of  a  composition  intelligible  to  others, 
may  lead  to  loquacity  and  wordiness.  The  general  con- 
ception of  the  present  list  of  terms,  however,  assumes 
that  the  reader  is,  as  it  were,  within  the  literary  work 
itself;  not  waiting  to  be  impressed  by  it,  but  actively 
participating  in  its  movement,  and  demanding  only  that 
this  movement  shall  not  be  unnecessarily  retarded,  whether 
from  combinations  of  sound,  from  logical  arrangement, 
from  the  flow  of  mental  imagery,  or  from  plot  development. 


APPENDIX. 


339 


XIX.      CLASSICAL.      TEMPERANCR 


Positive. 


Deficient. 


Calm. 

Abstinence. 

Adventurous. 

Eii'usive. 

Equable. 

Adequate. 

Awkward. 

Elliptical. 

Equanimity. 

Careful. 

Blundering. 

Extravagant. 

Gentle. 

Cautious. 

Capricious. 

Fustian. 

Mild. 

Chaste. 

Careless. 

Garrulity. 

Placid. 

Chastised. 

Clownish. 

Grandiloquent. 

Quiet. 

Classical. 

Flighty. 

Grandiose. 

Repose. 

Composed. 

Hasty. 

Grandity. 

Sedate. 

Guarded. 

Hurried. 

Gush. 

Serene. 

Moderation. 

Inconstant. 

Gusty. 

Tranquil. 

Modest. 

Loud. 

High-flown. 

Reserved. 

Negligent. 

Inflated. 

Restrained. 

Restless. 

Long-winded. 

Scrupulous. 

Slovenly. 

Loquacity. 

Sculpturesque. 

Whimsical. 

Luxuriant. 

Self-control. 

Wild. 

Magniloquence. 

Severe. 

Wilful. 

Noisy. 

Sober. 

Oriental. 

Statuesque. 

Ostentatious. 

Subdued. 

Pomp. 

Temperate. 

Pretentious. 

Well-considered. 

Profuse. 

Prolix. 

Rant. 

Brevity. 

Amplified. 

Redundant. 

Compression. 

Asiatic. 

Rhetorical. 

Concentrated. 

Bluster. 

Superfluous. 

Concise. 

Boisterous. 

Tautological. 

Condensed. 

Bombast. 

Tropical. 

Laconic. 

Brazen. 

Tumid. 

Terse. 

Declamatory. 

Verbiage. 

Diffuse. 

Verbose. 

Dilatation. 

Voluble. 

Dilation. 

Wordy. 

Dilution. 

340       A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

The  general  conception  of  temperance  or  moderation  in 
composition  which  this  group  of  terms  represents  is  in- 
timately related  to  purity,  regularity,  clearness,  and  pro- 
priety. The  most  casual  glance  at  the  association  of  terms 
in  the  quotations  given  under  the  different  terms  of  this 
list  will  make  this  fact  evident.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
general  conception  of  temperance  is  connected  in  a  scarcely 
less  intimate  manner  with  energy^  power,  and  strength  of 
style  in  a  composition.  The  requirement  is  that  this 
power  in  some  manner  be  restrained.  If  the  restraint  is 
^externally  imposed,  as  it  were,  either  immediately  or  me- 
diately from  custom  and  precedent,  thej^tem^firAUiia-tends^ 
toward  the  proprieties.  If  the  restraint  is  in  a  sense  self-, 
imposed,  then  temperance  becomes  dignity  and  grandeur. 

XX.      JUDICIOUS.      INTELLECTUAL. 

Positive.  Deficient. 

Folly. 

Foolish. 

Nonsense. 

Preposterous. 

Silly. 

Simpleness. 

Superficial. 

Unmeaning. 

Absurd. 


Critical. 

Reasonable. 

Good-sense. 

Sense. 

Instructive. 

Sensible. 

Judicious. 

Understanding. 

Just. 

Wise. 

Rational. 

Academic. 

Logical. 

Analytic. 

Meditative. 

Brooding. 

Philosophical. 

Contemplative. 

Reflective. 

Erudite. 

Studious. 

Intellectual. 

Thoughtful. 

Learned. 

APPENDIX.  341 

Positive.  Deficient. 


Acumen.  Pungent.  Dull. 

Acute.  Sagacity.  Obtuse. 

Cutting.  Sanity.  Stupid. 

Discriminative.     Sharp. 

Edge.  Shrewd. 

Incisive.  Succinct. 

Keen.  Subtle. 

Penetrative.  Trenchant. 

Piercing. 

The  use  of  intellectual  and  more  or  .less  logical  terms 
in  criticism  was  especially  pronounced  during  the  greater 
portion  o^:  the  eighteenth  century  and  during  the  latter  por- 
tion'of  the  present  century.  There  is  an  important  dif- 
ference, however,  in  the  nature  of  the  intellectual  terms 
employed  during  these  two  periods.  In  the  eighteenth 
century  the  intellectual  activities  represented  in  crrEi^ 
cism  were  chiefly  deliberative^ —  such  terms  as  "  judi- 
cious" and  "understanding"  being  in  great  favor.  During 
the  present  century  the  intellectual  terms  which  have 
been  most  employed  in  criticism  represent  native  and 

unelaborated  activities  or capacities  of  the  mind,  —  terms 

which  either  characterize  the  general  mental  tempera- 
ment of  the  author  as  reflected  in  his  work,  or  represent 
his  native  intellectual  acuteness  and  penetration. 

XXI.     CLASSIFYING   TERMS. 

Allegorical.  Idyllic. 

Bucolic.  Invective. 

Choral.  Lyrical. 

Comedy.  Narrative. 

Didactic.  Panegyrical. 

Dramatic.  Pastoral. 

Elegiac.  Picaresque. 

Epic.  Rhapsodical. 

Farce.  Romance. 


342     A  HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH  CRITICAL   TERMS. 

This  list  is  composed  of  those  terms  which  originally 
denoted  certain  forms  or  divisions  of  literature  without 
any  reference  whatever  to  the  critical  significance  of 
the  different  literary  forms  or  divisions  thus  designated. 
But  for  reasons  given  in  the  Introduction  it  was  impos- 
sible for  these  terms  to  preserve  their  critical  neutrality. 
They  have  been  used  chiefly  during  the  present  century, 
and  the  numerous  theoretical  discussions  relative  to  the 
"species"  or  divisions  of  literature  have  given  these  terms 
far  more  critical  significance  than  they  formerly  possessed. 


XXII.     AESTHETIC   TERMS, 

I.  —  MERE  APPROVAL. 
Positive.  Deficient. 


Absolute. 

Admirable. 

Adorable. 

Brave. 

Choice. 

Commendable. 

Competence. 

Conclusive. 

Consummate. 

Creditable. 

Distinguished. 

Effective. 

Eminent. 

Excellent. 

Exhaustive. 

Faultless. 

Final. 

Flawless. 

Great. 


Immortal. 

Impeccable. 

Iiiavertible. 

Incomparable. 

Inimitable. 

Marvelous. 

Masterly. 

Meritorious. 

Miraculous. 

Model. 

Peerless. 

Perfect. 

Readable. 

Sovereign/ 

Speckless. 

Superb. 

Supreme. 

Typical. 

Unsurpassed. 


Defective. 
Futile. 


APPENDIX. 


343 


II.  —  jEsTHETic  TEEMS  PROPER. 


Positive. 


Negative. 


Aerial. 

Fragrant. 

^Esthetic. 

Graceful. 

Affinity. 

Handsome, 

Agreeable. 

Heavenly. 

Airy. 

Ineffable. 

Art. 

Interesting. 

Artistic. 

Irresistible. 

Attractive. 

Lovely. 

Beauty. 

Luscious. 

Charm. 

Magical. 

Cogency. 

Magnetic. 

Comely.    • 

Palpable. 

Convincing. 

Persuasive. 

Dainty. 

Pleading. 

Delicate. 

Pleasing. 

Delicious. 

Poetical. 

Delightful. 

Redolent. 

Divine. 

Seductive. 

Enchanting. 

Soul. 

Engaging. 

Spiritual. 

Entertaining. 

Splendid. 

Ethereal. 

Stimulating. 

Exquisite. 

Stinging. 

Facetious. 

Suavity. 

Fascinating. 

Taste. 

Fine. 

Thrilling. 

Flavor. 

Balderdash. 

Brutish. 

Cloying. 

Detestable. 

Doggerel. 

Dreary. 

Empty. 

Gibberish. 

Gruesome. 

Hideous. 

Horrible. 

Horrid. 

Impalpable. 

Nauseous. 

Offensive. 

Oppressive. 

Philistinism. 

Prosaic. 

Repulsive. 

Revolting. 

Tedious. 

Tiresome. 

ugly- 


The  terms  which  have  been  hitherto  classified  represent 
active  qualities  or  principles,  which  tend  to  differentiate 
literature  into  its  component  parts,  and  to  give  to  each 
part  a  more  or  less  distinct  valuation.  The  terms  of  the 
present  list,  on  the  contrary,  tend  to  express  the  unified 
artistic  effect  which  the  literary  work  produces  upon  the 


344     A   HISTORY  OF  ENGLISH   CRITICAL   TERMS. 


d  of  the  reader.  They  indicate  a  complete  acceptance 
of  the  literary  work,  or  else  they  denote  a  complete  re- 
jection of  it.  No  qualitative  distinctions  are  set  up.  The 
aesthetic  term  as  predicate,  and  the  literary  work  as  sub- 
ject, are  by  definition  coextensive  and  identical.  In  actual 
criticism,  however,  this  identity  is  often  by  no  means 
complete;  and  this  variation,  together  with  the  changing 
limits  of  literary  art  itself,  give  the  two  points  of  view 
from  which  the  history  of  the  different  terms  may  be 
traced. 

XXIII.      ELEMENTARY    ARTISTIC    TERMS. 

Architectonics.  Imagination. 

Conceit.  Imitation. 

Constructive.  Ingenious. 

Creative.  Insight. 

Design.  Invention. 

Device.  Mimetic. 

Fancy.  -Original. 

Fantasy.  Selection. 

Genius.  Wit. 
Ideality. 

All  critical  terms,  in  so  far  as  they  are  critical,  except, 
perhaps,  those  of  the  preceding  list,  refer  more  or  less 
directly  to  the  active  process  of  construction  in  composi- 
tion, to  the  mental  capacities  by  which  any  given  form 
of  literature  is  rendered  possible.  Many  of  these  terms, 
however,  do  not  refer  to  processes  that  are  elementary. 
Thus,  humor  and  pathos  presuppose  the  exercise  of  the 
ideal  making  power  of  the  mind.  Many  critical  terms, 
also,  such  as  "  proportion"  and  "simplicity."  are  usually 
thought  of  as  characterizing  the  literary  work  when  con- 
sidered as  a  completed  product.  Hence  they  tend  to  be- 


APPENDIX.  345 

come  more  or  less  subject  tojixed  _ruleSj  by  the  application 
of  which  it  is  supposed  the  qualities  of  literature  desig- 
nated by  the  terms  can  always  be  attained.  In  this  man- 
ner the  process  ceases  to  be  elementary. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  list  of  terms  given  above  is 
a  complete  one,  or  even  a  representative  one.  After  all 
the  critical  terms  had  been  classified,  as  far  as  possible, 
according  to  their  historical  rise  and  development,  certain 
terms  remained,  which  represent  some  of  the  more  pri- 
mary activities  of  the  mind  that  are  brought  into  exercise 
in  the  production  of  literature.  These  terms  constitute 
the  present  list,  and  in  a  sense  they  indicate  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  fundamental  artistic  processes  which  has  taken 
place  during  the  different  periods  of  English  criticism. 


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